The Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO) share price was a star performer during last month's trade.
Core Lithium shares spiked 21% into the green in August, extending gains to 137% for the year to date.
The Core Lithium share price opened at $1.385 today. That's not too far from its 52-week high of $1.62 reached on 15 August.
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What happened in August for Core Lithium shares?
August was a busy month for the ASX lithium player. It started off by advising it had intersected high-grade lithium deposits at its flagship Finnis Lithium Project.
Investors were quick to rally the share on the back of the news, and unsurprisingly so, considering the price of lithium.
While most other commodity markets have wound back in H1 FY23, lithium carbonate has remained buoyant. It trades near all-time highs.
After trading sideways since April/May, the commodity caught another bid on 23 August. It now trades at A$104,443 per tonne, a shade off record highs of A$105,504/tonne recorded in March.
Moreover, as Bernd Struben wrote last week, the State of California recently passed legislation stipulating that all new vehicle sales in the state would "need to be powered by electricity or hydrogen" by 2035.
As a result, analysts at UBS revised their forward estimates on spodumene to US$1,100 per tonne. They've revised battery-grade lithium to US$15,000/tonne, up US$300 and US$2,000 respectively.
As seen in the chart below, the Core Lithium share price and the price of lithium have tracked each other closely over the past 12 months.
With this in mind, any further strengthening in the price of lithium could positively affect the Core Lithium share price, given the tightness of this relationship.
Meantime, Core Lithium remains up 294% over the past 12 months.
