There were plenty of good news stories to be found in the small-cap end of the market in 2021, despite rollercoaster rises and falls in the stock market overall.
The ASX small ordinaries index, or the AXSO, gained about 10% over the course of the year; ever so slightly more than the ASX 200 index.
The top 100 gainers across the ASX were predominantly small-cap companies, although some mid-cap stocks like Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:PLS) found their way into the mix.
And of the top 100, all of them gained more than 200%; hundreds more doubled their market value.
The biggest movers in mining
Resources companies did most of the heavy-hitting in the top 100 winners of 2021.
In fact, 19 of the top 20 companies all have some relevance to mining, whether it be through gold mine development, uranium, steel or battery technology.
The biggest winner of 2021 — with a gain nearly 10 times that of the second-best — was ViaGold Rare Earths Resources Ltd, up 10,426%.
The most surprising thing about this story, however, is that ViaGold released very little in the way of announcements that could explain its rise.
An investment holding company, ViaGold says its subsidiaries are “principally engaged in rare earth refining and separation”, with that segment “resuming prosperously” in 2021 thanks to demand for new energy vehicles, home appliances and smartphones.
Red Hill Iron Ltd was the next best, up 1,747%. The iron ore miner reached a new benchmark in late July when it sold its 40% interest in the Red Hill Iron Ore joint venture to Mineral Resources for $400 million; its share price gained 269% in a day.
Core Lithium Ltd (ASX:CXO) had a terrific year, with its shares gaining 620% as it works to develop Australia’s newest lithium asset, the Finniss Lithium Project in the Northern Territory.
Most recently, Core picked up six new mining leases next door to Finniss, with the new tenure covering more than 30 historical pegmatite mines, and evidence of lithium fertility and spodumene mineralisation already confirmed.
Fellow lithium miner AVZ Minerals Ltd (ASX:AVZ) was another big winner in 2021, gaining 554% throughout the year.
Based in the Democratic Republic of Congo, AVZ secured a cornerstone investor for the development of its Manono Lithium and Tin Project on entering an agreement with Suzhou CATH Energy Technologies (ASX:EGY).
The transaction implementation agreement will see CATH, a private investment entity, earn a 24% equity interest in a multi-faceted joint venture to develop the project.
Small-cap, multinational, multi-commodity explorer Eclipse Metals Ltd (ASX:EPM) gained 420% this year, as it continued to grow its large portfolio of assets prospective for cryolite, fluorite, siderite, quartz, rare earth elements, gold, platinum group metals, manganese, palladium, vanadium and uranium mineralisation.
Most recently, its analysis of core samples from its Ivittuut project in southwestern Greenland has returned high-grade rare earth results and confirmed polymetallic potential.
Analysis of the historical diamond drill core revealed the polymetallic potential with values up to 9.86% zinc and 3.54% tin as well as anomalous rare earth element (REE) values at Ivittuut.
Queensland Pacific Metals Ltd (ASX:QPM) is going all-in on its Townsville Energy Chemicals Hub (TECH) Project, which is envisaged to become a sustainable producer of critical chemicals for the lithium-ion battery and electric vehicle sectors, particularly nickel.
And the strategy is paying dividends, with QPM shares gaining an impressive 413% in 2021.
Managing director Stephen Grocott says TECH will not only be net-zero carbon, but also a significantly net-carbon negative battery-grade nickel manufacturing plant.
West Africa is proving to be fertile ground for Predictive Discovery Ltd (ASX:PDI), which has released a flood of information this year about its assets in the Ivory Coast and Guinea, giving shares a 310% boost.
New extensional drilling at its Bankan Gold Project in Guinea continues to confirm grade continuity and broad widths of the high-grade gold zone at NE Bankan deposit.
The flagship Bankan Project comprises four tenements - Kaninko, Saman, Argo and Bokoro – and encompasses 358 square kilometres with the company returning strong and consistent gold results in ongoing exploration.
Moving on up in healthcare
Neurotherapeutics developer Actinogen Medical Ltd (ASX:ACW) was the biggest mover in the healthcare sector, and the only company in the top 20 unrelated to mining, gaining 513% over the course of the year.
The company’s aim is to give neurology patients — such as those suffering from Alzheimer’s — the best possible life.
Its flagship drug, Xanamem, is being studied in phase two trials for Alzheimer’s, as well as phase two trials for Fragile X Syndrome, which causes intellectual disability.
Fellow biotech Emyria Ltd (ASX:EMD) soared 486% this year, as it closes out 2021 with a series of announcements that strengthen its data-backed drug development strategy.
In early December, the company received positive vitro receptor screening results for the first batch of MDMA-analogues screened for neuroreceptor activity with major pharmaceutical development company, Eurofins.
Results have highlighted a number of novel compounds with greater potency compared with MDMA for certain neuroreceptors at the test concentrations.
It also strengthened its board with the appointment of global pharmaceutical expert Dr Karen Smith, the founding CEO of Minderoo Foundation’s Eliminate Cancer Initiative, supported by Dr Andrew Forrest AO, and a director at Acceleron Pharma, which was acquired by Merck for US$11 billion in November.
Imugene Ltd (ASX:IMU, OTC:IUGNF) has been another success story in 2021, gaining 325% as it makes rapid progress with its range of novel immunotherapies that seek to activate the immune system of cancer patients to treat and eradicate tumours.
Managing director Leslie Chong spoke to Proactive about the clinical trial supply deal with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and Pfizer to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Imugene’s HER-Vaxx, in combination with avelumab, in patients with HER-2 positive gastric cancer.
HER-Vaxx is Imugene’s B-cell activating immunotherapy, which will be assessed in conjunction with avelumab, an immune checkpoint inhibitor targeting PD-L1, which is marketed as BAVENCIO® and co-developed and commercialised by Merck KGaA and Pfizer.
The 100 biggest ASX gainers in 2021 (as of December 9, 2021)
- Daniel Paproth