The Ioneer Ltd (ASX: INR) share price tops the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) leader's board for biggest gains over the past month.
Ioneer's share price is up 90% since 28 September and up 58% so far in October. By comparison the All Ords is up 6% so far this month. Shares enjoyed another 5.6% gain by end of the day today.
The past month's tremendous performance will come as welcome news to shareholders, who saw the share price drop 58% from 21 February through to 19 March during the COVID-19 panic selling.
The share price has rebounded 138% since that low, which sees shares trading at 19 cents, right where the year began.
What does Ioneer do?
Ioneer is a lithium project developer. Its low-cost Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron project is located in the US state of Nevada. The company forecasts the project will be 'construction ready' in the second quarter of 2021.
Why has the Ioneer share price gained 90% the past month?
Ioneer's share price has been on a tear this past month with no fresh news from the company hitting the market.
One of its recent positive announcements on 31 August, stating that its plan of operation for the Rhyolite Ridge project were given the green light by the US Bureau of Land Management, saw a brief 10% share price spike before shares retraced and traded flat from the 31 August price through to 28 September.
So why has the share price rocketed 90% since then?
The most likely catalyst is US President Donald Trump.
On 30 September Trump signed an executive order which declared a national emergency in the US mining industry. Speaking at a campaign rally in Minnesota, Trump said:
Earlier today, I took another historic step for your state when I signed an executive order providing billions of dollars to jump-start production of critical and other minerals which will create countless jobs that are so important for our country.
Trump's surprise move is designed to boost US production for critical minerals needed in defence and the burgeoning electric vehicle markets and reduce US reliance on China.
Judging by Ioneer's skyrocketing share price, the company could be well placed to provide lithium to the US market to help power the next generation of vehicles and home battery storage.
