The lithium sector certainly was a great place to be invested last month.
Although the ASX 200 index charged notably higher over the period, some lithium stocks absolutely smashed the market return.
For example, the four shares listed below all recorded gain of over 25% last month. Here's why investors were buying their shares in March:
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Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO)
The Core Lithium share price was on form last month and recorded a 79% gain. The key driver of this was an announcement at the beginning of the month which revealed that Core has signed a binding agreement with electric vehicle giant Tesla. The agreement will see Core supply up to 110,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate to Tesla from the Finniss Lithium Project near Darwin over a four-year period. This, and positive drilling results from the Carlton deposit, offset the surprise news that the company's CEO is leaving.
AVZ Minerals Ltd (ASX: AVZ)
The AVZ Minerals share price was a positive performer last month and raced 35% higher. There were a couple of catalysts for this strong gain. One was rising lithium prices which boosted the whole sector, the other was news that S&P Indices added the lithium developer to the illustrious ASX 200 index at the March quarterly rebalance.
Ioneer Ltd (ASX: INR)
The Ioneer share price bounced back from a poor start to finish the month 30% higher. Almost all of this gain was made in the final days of March following the announcement of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with NexTech Batteries. It is a leader in proprietary lithium-sulphur battery technology based in Nevada. The two parties are looking at using lithium from Ioneer's Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project to manufacture next generation solid-state batteries that are "poised to revolutionise the automotive industry."
Calidus Resources Ltd (ASX: CAI)
The Calidus Resources share price continued its positive run in March and rose a further 27%. This was driven by news that its 50% owned Pirra Lithium business has identified a "substantial lithium-bearing pegmatite with a mapped strike length of more than 1km" in the Eastern Pilbara. Management commented: "It is already clear that we are in the early stages of an exciting lithium discovery with both scale and strong grades."
