Top Graphite Stocks of 2018 on the TSX and TSXV

As the electric vehicle (EV) revolution moves forward, uptake of these cars continues to drive demand for graphite, a metal key in lithium-ion batteries.

Pricing for the metal has been disappointing for some investors this past year, but a number of graphite-focused companies have still seen impressive share price gains. Below we run through 2018’s top graphite stocks year-to-date on the TSX and TSXV.

All year-to-date and share price information was obtained on December 13, 2018 from TradingView. All companies listed had market caps above C$5 million at that time.

1. Canada Carbon (TSXV:CCB)

Year-to-date growth: 77.78 percent, current share price: C$0.16

Canada Carbon is a Canadian exploration company with three graphite properties under its belt. The company’s assets include Miller and Asbury, two past-producing graphite mines, along with the Dun Raven project. All are located in Quebec.

While Canada Carbon’s share price saw some turbulence in February after a dispute with Quebec’s agricultural board, it has trended upward through Q4 2018. Gains came after Senator Michael L. MacDonald joined the company’s board of directors, and after the Superior Court of Quebec ruled in favor of the company as part of a dispute about the Miller project with Grenville-sur-la-Rouge.

2. NextSource Materials (TSX:NEXT)

Year-to-date growth: 53.85 percent, current share price: C$0.10

A mine development company based in Toronto, NextSource Materials’ primary focus is its feasibility-stage Molo graphite project in Madagascar, which has a total combined graphite resource of 141.28 million tonnes at 6.13 percent total graphitic carbon. The company also holds the Green Giant vanadium project in the country.

NextSource saw its strongest share price performance in the early months of 2018, with a January announcement that it had registered its SuperFlake® product as a trademark in Japan. Its highest share price came 10 days after that announcement, hitting C$0.20 on January 26.

The company’s other milestones this past year include the signing of a decade-long offtake deal with a Japanese trading company that supplies flake graphite to a major Japanese EV anode producer.

3. Gratomic (TSXV:GRAT)

Year-to-date growth: 33.33 percent, share price: C$0.14

Referring to itself as a leader in the mining and commercialization of graphite products, Gratomic is a Toronto-based company. It has two projects under its belt: Buckingham in Quebec and Aukam in Namibia. It holds a 63-percent interest in the latter.

Gratomic saw its strongest performance in 2018’s first quarter, kicking off in January with a major jump after it changed up its directors. The company’s highest point came at the end of that month, however, when its share price was boosted to C$0.26 on January 26, just days before Gratomic executed a letter of intent with an unnamed strategic partner for an “ecosystem” between graphene producers and users through blockchain technology.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Olivia Da Silva, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

Editorial Disclosure: Canada Carbon and NextSource Materials are clients of the Investing News Network. This article is not paid-for content.