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Cobalt Investing
Top 5 Canadian Cobalt Stocks in 2025
Mar. 18, 2025 01:45PM PST
What are the top cobalt stocks so far in 2025? These TSX- and TSXV-listed cobalt companies have all seen year-to-date share price increases.
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Cobalt prices have been in a steady state of decline for much of the past few years as the market has remained constrained by excess supply and eroding demand.
The sluggish market conditions were attributed to reduced demand from the battery sector and oversupply of material. As a result, prices remained under pressure, with limited signs of improvement expected in the near term.
Cobalt prices continued to face many headwinds at the beginning of 2025. The multi-year supply glut and the growing transition to cobalt-free electric vehicle battery chemistries pulled the value of the battery metal down to US$21,550 per metric ton on February 10, a low not seen for more than a decade.
However, the world's leading cobalt producing country, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) placed a four-month ban on cobalt exports on February 22 in an effort to boost prices. As the DRC is responsible for more than 70 percent of global cobalt production, this of course sent prices for the battery metal soaring to a yearly high of US$36,170 per metric ton as of March 17.
“Market views on the ban were mixed, with some participants expecting prices to continue increasing owing to tighter cobalt supply. But others were less concerned, noting that there was abundant cobalt material outside of the DRC,” a March report from Argus Media states.
As the DRC banned cobalt exports, not cobalt production, the country's production is currently being stockpiled. However, on March 14, the country announced it would implement quotas on stockpiles and production to avoid prices falling once the ban is lifted.
These tough market conditions in recent years have been reflected in the performance of cobalt exploration and mining companies. However, despite the challenges, a number of companies with more diversified metals portfolios that still offer exposure to cobalt have been able to make gains in the current market.
Below is a look at the five top cobalt stocks on the TSX and TSXV by share price performance so far this year. All year-to-date and share price information was obtained on March 17, 2025, using TradingView’s stock screener, and all companies listed had market caps above C$5 million at that time. Read on to learn more about their activities.
1. Leading Edge Materials (TSXV:LEM)
Year-to-date gain: 216.67 percent
Market cap: C$60.34 million
Share price: C$0.285
Leading Edge Materials is developing a portfolio of critical materials projects in the European Union to supply materials for advanced technologies such as lithium-ion batteries and permanent magnets for EVs and wind power generation. The company's projects include its wholly owned Woxna graphite mine and the Norra Kärr heavy rare earth elements project in Sweden, and the 51 percent owned Bihor Sud nickel-cobalt exploration alliance in Romania.
After starting the year at C$0.09, shares of Leading Edge Materials reached a year-to-date high of C$0.30 on February 27.
Much of that stellar gain can be attributed to the spotlight placed on Europe's need to secure domestic supplies of graphite and rare earth materials, which are critical to the region's clean technology and defense industries. In mid-February, Leading Edge Materials notified the market that it is updating a 2022 study that evaluated processing plant upgrades study at its "production-ready" Woxna graphite mine to support project financing discussions.
Earlier that month, Leading Edge announced it expects a decision by the end of March 2025 on the application for Strategic Project status for its Norra Kärr rare earths project. The company plans to initiate work on a pre-feasibility study at Norra Kärr in Q2 2025 with the purpose of evaluating the business case for a rapid development plan for the project.
As for Leading Edge's cobalt asset, the Bihor Sud nickel-cobalt project is a brownfield early-stage exploration project at which field work over the past year has identified strong potential for the discovery of a significant polymetallic deposit. The company says its goal at the project is "to define a large-scale, mineable mineral resource."
As of February 2025, exploration work planned for 2025 at Bihor Sud includes mapping and sampling of cobalt-nickel and zinc-lead-silver mineralized zones detected visually and by hand-held XRF, as well as drilling to target polymetallic mineralization.
2. Battery Mineral Resources (TSXV:BMR)
Year-to-date gain: 50 percent
Market cap: C$8.98 million
Share price: C$0.075
Battery Mineral Resources is mainly focused on becoming a mid-tier copper producer. The company commenced mine and mill operations in May of 2024 at its Punitaqui mining complex in Chile. The mine is a historic copper-gold-silver producer. Its portfolio also includes cobalt assets in Ontario, Canada, and Idaho, US, along with one lithium asset Nevada, US, and two graphite assets in South Korea.
Shares in Battery Mineral Resources nearly tripled in the first few weeks of 2025 to hit a year-to-date high of C$0.14 on January 14. That same day, the company shared positive drill core assay results from its 2024 underground exploration and in-fill drill program at the Punitaqui copper mine.
The company's Ontario cobalt exploration properties are located in a region known for historic cobalt and silver production in the 20th century, and its Idaho-based cobalt properties are located in the historic Blackbird cobalt-copper mine district, adjacent to Jervois Global's (TSXV:JRV) Ram deposit. No work is currently underway on these properties.
3. Wheaton Precious Metals (TSX:WPM)
Year-to-date gain: 31.6 percent
Market cap: C$48.11 billion
Share price: C$108.56
Wheaton Precious Metals is one of the largest gold and silver royalty and streaming companies. It has investments in 18 operating mines and 28 development projects across four continents, including a cobalt streaming agreement for Vale's (NYSE:VALE) Voisey’s Bay nickel mine in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
The company reported its Q4 2024 and full-year 2024 financial performance on March 13. The report highlighted record revenues of US$381 million for Q4 and US$1.285 billion for the full year of 2024.
The company states in the financial report that 2 percent of its Q4 revenue was attributed to its Voisey’s Bay cobalt stream. Wheaton also reported an impairment charge of US$109 million at December 31, 2024, in relation to the carrying value of its Voisey’s Bay agreement “due to a significant and sustained decline in market cobalt prices.”
Shares in Wheaton hit a year-to-date high of C$108.56 on March 17 as the price of gold broke above US$3,000 per ounce and reached record highs.
4. Nickel 28 Capital (TSXV:NKL)
Year-to-date gain: 8.45 percent
Market cap: C$67.85 million
Share price: C$0.77
Nickel 28 Capital is a battery-metals royalty company with a portfolio of 11 nickel and cobalt royalties on development and exploration projects across Canada, Australia and Papua New Guinea. The company’s largest asset is its 8.56 percent interest in the producing Ramu nickel-cobalt mine in Papua New Guinea.
Nickel 28 Capital’s share price reached a year-to-date high of C$0.86 on February 6, following the release of its Q4 and full-year 2024 operating performance for the Ramu nickel-cobalt mine. Highlights of the report included Q4 and full year 2024 sales of contained cobalt in mixed hydroxide precipitate totaling 488 metric tons and 2,793 metric tons, respectively.
5. FPX Nickel (TSXV:FPX)
Year-to-date gain: 6.38 percent
Market cap: C$80.19 million
Share price: C$0.25
FPX Nickel is currently advancing its Decar nickel district in British Columbia, Canada. The property comprises four key targets, with the Baptiste deposit being the primary focus, alongside the Van target. The company also has three other nickel projects in BC and one in the Yukon, Canada. While nickel extraction is its main focus, it plans to produce cobalt as a by-product from future mining operations at the Baptiste site.
FPX Nickel had a series of positive news releases in the first few months of 2025. In mid-January, FPX announced the positive results of a third-party economic impact study on the Baptiste nickel project based on its 2023 pre-feasibility study.
"The Baptiste Project has tremendous potential, and we are excited to see what the future holds. Together, we are creating opportunities, collaborating with First Nations to the benefit of all, and advancing projects that could be the critical minerals mines of tomorrow," stated Jagrup Brar, British Columbia’s Minister for Mining and Critical Minerals, in the press release.
On February 18, FPX Nickel shared its planned activities for 2025 at Baptiste as it prepares for the environmental assessment process, which the company hopes to enter in the second half of the year. The following week, FPX released results from a positive scoping study for the development of a refinery aimed at producing battery-grade nickel sulphate, along with cobalt, copper and ammonium sulphate by-products.
Shares of FPX spiked to a year-to-date high of C$0.28 on March 7.
FAQs for cobalt
What is cobalt?
Cobalt is a silver-gray metal that is often produced as a by-product of nickel and copper mining. It does not occur as a separate metal anywhere in the world, and must be produced by reductive smelting, or from the metallic ore cobaltite, which is made of cobalt, sulfur and arsenic.
What is cobalt used for?
Historically, cobalt oxides were used to impart a blue pigment to glass, porcelain and paints, hence the still-used cobalt blue paint. The metal is also used to produce superalloys, as cobalt imparts qualities such as corrosion and wear resistance, which are useful in applications such as airplanes, orthopedics and prosthetics.
Today cobalt is most famously used in the rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that run everything from smartphones to EVs.
Where is cobalt mined?
The majority of cobalt production comes out of the DRC, which was responsible for producing 220,000 metric tons of the material in 2024. For perspective, the second largest cobalt-producing country, Indonesia, reported output of 28,000 MT the same year; third place Russia produced 8,700 MT of the material.
As the lithium-ion battery and EV supply chains garner global attention, companies are trying to limit their exposure to cobalt produced from the DRC, which is known for human rights abuses and sometimes child labor in its mining industry.
In response to this trend, many countries with cobalt are attempting to create domestic cobalt and EV supply chains in the hope of attracting companies looking to avoid DRC-sourced cobalt. This can be seen in the up-and-coming battery corridor in Ontario, Canada, as well as in the US-based Idaho cobalt belt.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Melissa Pistilli, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Editorial Disclosure: FPX Nickel is a client of the Investing News Network. This article is not paid-for content.
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