The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) was back on form in December and pushed higher.
During the month, the benchmark index managed to record a gain of 1.15% to end at 8,714.3 points.
While that was positive for investors, there were many ASX 200 shares that vastly outperformed the market in December.
Here are the best performers on the index during the period:
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DroneShield Ltd (ASX: DRO)
The DroneShield share price was the best performer on the ASX 200 index in December with a gain of approximately 56%. Investors were scrambling to buy the counter drone technology company's shares after it announced a series of contract wins. This includes an $8.2 million contract from an in-country reseller for delivery to a western military end-customer and a $49.6 million contract with an in-region European reseller that is contractually required to distribute the products to a European military end-customer. In addition, DroneShield announced plans to establish a mandatory minimum shareholding policy (MSP) for all directors and members of senior management. This was in response to heavy insider selling which caused significant share price weakness in November.
Bellevue Gold Ltd (ASX: BGL)
The Bellevue Gold share price wasn't too far behind with a gain of 30% for the month. This was driven by the gold miner's exposure to the booming gold price. Speaking of which, the precious metal climbed to several record highs during the period on the back of US rate cut optimism. In addition, early in the month, Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) put an outperform rating and $1.80 price target on its shares.
Greatland Resources Ltd (ASX: GGP)
The Greatland Resources share price was on form and raced 26% higher in December. Investors were buying this gold and copper producer's shares thanks to favourable moves in commodity prices. Another positive was the release of the feasibility study for its Havieron project. It noted that the study confirms a pathway to a world-class, long-life, lowest quartile cost Australian gold-copper mine, leveraging existing infrastructure. The company's managing director, Shaun Day, commented: "Today, we are delighted to deliver our Feasibility Study which confirms Havieron's world-class quality and sets the pathway for its development into a long-life, low cost, leading Australian gold-copper mine that will integrate efficiently with the existing infrastructure at Telfer."
IGO Ltd (ASX: IGO)
The IGO share price was a strong performer and rose 23% during the month. This appears to have been driven by improving sentiment in the battery materials space. In addition, the ASX 200 share announced that Chemical Grade Plant 3 (CGP3) at the Greenbushes lithium mining and processing operation in Western Australia commenced commissioning on schedule. CGP3 has a capacity of approximately 500ktpa of spodumene concentrate. It will be an integral part of Greenbushes growth strategy, helping to take total capacity of the site to approximately 2.1mt of spodumene concentrate.
