Top 3 Canadian Cobalt Stocks in 2023

Year-to-date gain: 213.04 percent; market cap: C$49.78 million; current share price: C$0.72

Exploration company DLP Resources is focused on base metals and cobalt projects in Southeast BC, with a portfolio of properties that includes the Aldridge 1 and 2 groups, the Hungry Creek copper-cobalt-silver project, the Copper Creek copper-cobalt project and the Redburn Creek copper-cobalt project. The company also has the Aurora porphyry copper-molybdenum project in Peru.

In February, DLP shared an exploration update, which included results from 2022 exploration at its Hungry Creek and Copper Creek projects. The company also announced the beginning of its 2023 exploration at Aurora.

DLP's share price jumped significantly to C$0.40 on March 22, the day before the company announced a non-brokered private placement to raise gross proceeds of C$1,500,000. DLP upsized the placement to C$1,712,500 on March 24, and ultimately closed it on April 6 at that amount. The company intends to use the funds for various exploration campaigns at its BC projects.

DLP continued its upward momentum in May, during which time it released results for its fourth drill hole at Aurora. After cooling in June, DLP jumped from C$0.51 to C$0.71 on July 10, despite the fact that it hadn't released any news during the month. On July 24, the company shared further drill results from Aurora; the update led DLP’s share price to hit C$0.72, its highest level ever, on July 25.

Year-to-date gain: 16.18 percent; market cap: C$751.69 million; current share price: C$2.80

Horizonte Minerals is a nickel and cobalt company focused on developing its wholly owned Araguaia nickel project and Vermelho nickel-cobalt project, both of which are in Brazil’s Pará state. Vermelho, which is currently at the feasibility stage, is anticipated to produce 1,250 MT of cobalt on top of its projected 24,000 MT of nickel production.

In late January, Horizonte submitted its environmental and social impact assessment for Vermelho to the Pará State Secretariat for Environment and Sustainability. The company says it is targeting the first half of 2024 for when the submissions will be approved by the entity. Horizonte’s share price jumped from C$2.18 to C$2.60 in the week following the news.

On July 6, the company received a mining approval permit from the Brazilian regulator for its Araguaia nickel project. This will allow the company to “mine, stockpile, and categorise ore, optimising the consistency of the feedstock.” It plans to carry out stockpiling over the next six months to establish enough ore to feed its plant for the six months following that process.

The news pushed Horizonte upward in July, and it ultimately reached a year-to-date high of C$2.88 on July 17.

Year-to-date gain: 15.91 percent; market cap: C$139.68 million; current share price: C$0.51

FPX Nickel is a nickel company developing its flagship Decar Nickel District in BC. The property is host to four targets, including the Baptiste deposit and the Van target, the former of which is the company’s primary target. The company also has 100 percent ownership of three other nickel projects in BC and one in Canada's Yukon. While FPX is primarily a nickel company, it intends to produce cobalt as a by-product of future nickel mining at Baptiste.

On May 17, the company completed hydrometallurgical testwork on Baptiste’s awaruite nickel concentrate using a two stage process with a cobalt solvent and a nickel solvent. The results show that the leach solution was able to extract over 99 percent of the cobalt, and the process can be used to make cobalt hydroxide and cobalt sulfide precipitates grading 40 percent and 39 percent cobalt.

FPX’s share price spiked on May 30 on news that global stainless steel company Outokumpu (OMXHEX:OUT1V) would be investing C$16.08 million in FPX through a private placement financing, resulting in the steel giant owning 9.9 percent of the company. For as long as Outokumpu holds the shares, the deal gives it the right to negotiate one or more offtake agreements for nickel from Baptiste up to a total of 60,000 MT, or 7,500 MT per year for eight years.

The company’s share price moved from C$0.43 on May 29 to C$0.58 by June 5 — a year-to-date high.

FPX’s most recent news came on June 27, when the company announced the completion of all testwork for its upcoming prefeasibility study, which it expects to release in September.