Top Nickel Stocks on the TSX and TSXV

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Nickel has had an interesting year, with prices hitting their lowest point in March at US$11,055 per tonne on the back of the coronavirus pandemic.

The metal rebounded to US$13,888 as Elon Musk called for more mining of the base metal, which is a necessary component of electric vehicle (EV) batteries.

Since then, the nickel price has soared even further, rising as high as US$16,475 as of mid-December. The nickel market has been driven by higher demand from the stainless steel sector, in particular in China and Indonesia, as well as anticipated buying from EV battery manufacturers.

Despite the market volatility, some nickel-focused companies have done well this year, with their share prices seeing major increases over the course of the year so far.

Below, the Investing News Network profiles the three top nickel stocks with year-to-date gains on the TSX and TSXV. All year-to-date and share price information was obtained on December 10, 2020, from TradingView, and all top nickel stocks listed had market caps above C$10 million at that time.

1. FPX Nickel (TSXV:FPX)

Current share price: C$0.59; year-to-date gain: 268.75 percent

Top nickel stock FPX Nickel is focused on the exploration and development of the Decar nickel-iron district, located in Central British Columbia, and other occurrences of the same unique style of naturally occurring nickel-iron alloy mineralization known as awaruite.

The company kicked off the year by releasing successful leach testing results for the high-grade nickel concentrates at its project. It has confirmed nickel recoveries of up to 99.5 percent in producing a high-concentration nickel-cobalt chemical solution suitable for the EV battery supply chain.

In March, FPX Nickel closed a private placement for $1.5 million. The following month, the company said it planned to complete a preliminary economic assessment( PEA) for the Baptiste deposit in the Decar district in Q3 or Q4. As promised, the PEA was delivered in September, showing an after-tax net present value of US$1.7 billion and a four year payback period. The mine life is set at 35 years and C1 operating costs came in at US$2.74 per pound of nickel.

The news sent shares of FPX Nickel to their year high of C$0.84. The company’s share price has made its way up from C$0.16 in January to C$0.59 as of December 10.

2. Talon Metals (TSX:TLO)

Current share price: C$0.34; year-to-date gain: 126.67 percent

Talon Metals is focused on producing nickel responsibly for the EV industry. The company’s high-grade Tamarack nickel-copper-cobalt project is located in Minnesota, US; it is comprised of the Tamarack North project and the Tamarack South project.

Talon started the year with an exploration program at Tamarack, releasing an updated PEA in March, which increased the overall tonnage and mine life compared to the initial assessment. The same month, the company released its 2019 results, posting a net loss for the year.

In May, Talon published drill results from its winter program, and also reported a net loss for the first quarter of 2020. In June, the company said it had intersected its highest nickel and copper grades to date.

Later in the summer, Talon kicked off a drilling campaign at Tamarack in order to rapidly grow the resource. In late August, metallurgical results confirmed the potential to use nickel concentrates from Tamarack for the EV and stainless steel markets. The next month, Talon intercepted massive and disseminated sulfides at shallow depths outside the current resource area at Tamarack; further exploration continues to point to a new zone of nickel mineralization.

Shares of Talon reached a year high of C$0.44 on November 19. Talon has seen its share price increase from C$0.15 at the start of 2020 to its December 10 level of C$0.34.

3. Canada Nickel Company (TSXV:CNC)

Current share price: C$1.85; year-to-date gain: 105.56 percent 

Canada Nickel Company is advancing its 100 percent owned Crawford nickel-cobalt sulfide discovery. It has large-scale potential and is located in the Timmins mining camp, adjacent to major infrastructure.

It’s been a busy year for Canada Nickel, which started trading on the TSXV in February — the same month it released a resource estimate for its asset. Following an oversubscribed private placement, the company announced multiple palladium–platinum discovery zones in May.

Later in Q2, the company started working on a PEA for Crawford, and it shared an updated resource estimate in October; at the the time, it said the PEA would be delivered by the end of the year.

The third quarter of the year saw Canada Nickel create a wholly owned subsidiary, NetZero Metals, to begin research and development on a processing facility with the goal of utilizing existing technologies to produce zero-carbon nickel, cobalt and iron ore products. Additionally, the company continued to release positive drilling results throughout the summer and fall. A third new discovery at Crawford was announced in October, and the company listed on the OTCQB the same month.

Canada Nickel’s opening share price when it listed on the TSXV was C$0.25, meaning it’s risen nearly 650 percent from then to December 10; it touched a year high of C$3 on July 28.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Melissa Pistilli, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

Editorial Disclosure: Canada Nickel Company and FPX Nickel are clients of the Investing News Network. This article is not paid-for content.