Small cap ASX shares live in a world of their own. Some strike gold, some don't. Here are some across the mining and healthcare sectors that managed to deliver significant shareholder value in November.
Best performing small cap ASX shares in November
Rhythm Biosciences Ltd (ASX: RHY)
Rhythm Biosciences is working on a simple, affordable and effective blood test for the early detection of colorectal cancer. Colorectal cancer is the second largest cause of cancer-related deaths in Australia, Europe and the United States, and the third largest globally.
The company's ColoSTAT is the first product in development, representing a transformative diagnostic tool, to more accurately detect colorectal cancer via a blood test.
On 12 November, Rhythm Biosciences announced that the ColoSTAT prototype test kit had been successfully completed. Its preliminary test results demonstrate superior performance to both globally accepted and market standard tests. Rhythm CEO, Mr Glenn Gilbert, commented:
These preliminary results demonstrate the high accuracy and specificity of the ColoSTAT prototype test kit which clearly distinguishes between cancerous and healthy blood samples. This is a significant step forward for the company as we take steps to commercialise our world leading, transformative diagnostic test that will save lives.
The Rhythm share price jumped 50% on the day of the announcement and up more than 170% in November.
Galan Lithium Ltd (ASX: GLN)
Mid to large cap ASX lithium shares including Galaxy Resources Limited (ASX: GXY), Orocobre Limited (ASX: ORE) and Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) staged a significant share price recovery following Joe Biden's United States election victory. Meanwhile, on the smaller end of town, the seemingly dormant Galan share price struck gold to soar more than 150% in November.
Galan Lithium owns two projects based within the South American lithium triangle in Argentina. Hombre Muerto is proven to host the highest grade and lowest impurity levels within Argentina and is home to Livent Corp's (NYSE: LTHM) El Fenix and Galaxy Resources and POSCO's (NYSE: PKX) Sal de Vida projects.
On 17 November, Galan announced a significant increase in indicated resource at its Hombre Muerto West (HMW) project. Galan's total HMW resource estimate now stands at a world class 2.3 million tonnes.
Galan Managing Director, Juan Pablo (JP) Vargas de la Vega, said:
Being the third largest publicly disclosed resource in the Hombre Muerto and overtaking POSCO, is an amazing milestone. This is something we were not even dreaming about when we first started drilling late last year. The increase from 1.4Mt to 2.3Mt of LCE at HMW is a huge step up for the Project's economic and technical potential that we will now reflect in our ongoing PEA and scoping studies due for completion in early Dec'20.
Azure Minerals Limited (ASX: AZS)
The Azure Minerals share price jumped 150% in November following a series of positive drilling results and a $37 million placement to accelerate its nickel-copper drilling.
Azure Managing Director, Mr Tony Rovira, described the first five holes drilled at its Andover site as "nothing less than exceptional, with all intersecting substantial widths of nickel-copper sulphite mineralisation". The company currently has one diamond drill rig operating at Andover and, with the exception of a short Christmas break, will continue drilling into 2021. Additional drill rigs will be sourced to rapidly advance delineation of the Andover mineralised zone and to test additional regional targets.