Year-to-date gain: 40 percent; market cap: C$83.64 million; current share price: C$0.91

Fireweed Metals is a critical metals company whose flagship Macmillan Pass zinc project is located in Canada's Yukon. The company also has the Gayna River zinc project in the Northwest Territories and the Mactung tungsten project, which is in both the Yukon and the Northwest Territories. The company acquired Gayna and Mactung this year as part of its effort to expand beyond zinc; this shift is also reflected in the company’s mid-year name change from Fireweed Zinc.

Fireweed has performed various levels of exploration at all three projects in 2022, with a C$10 million drill program at Macmillan’s Boundary West zone completed in November. The news began an upward trend for the company’s share price, which moved from C$0.61 on November 9, the day before the release, to C$0.90 by the month’s close. On November 22, it was revealed that the program brought the highest-grade assays seen anywhere at the project, with a highlight of 60 meters at 19 percent zinc, 1.6 percent lead and 64.7 grams per MT (g/t) silver within 124 meters grading 12.3 percent zinc, 1.3 percent lead and 45.9 g/t silver.

“Boundary West seems to get higher grade the more we chase it to depth, and we see great potential for this massive sulphide zone,” Fireweed Metals CEO Brandon Macdonald said in a press release at the time.

The company continued to see good news in November, announcing positive results from exploration at Gayna and identifying new targets for future drilling. Additionally, a private placement by the company culminated in C$35 million, including large investments from the Lundin family, Larry Childress and Teck Resources (TSX:TECK.A.TSX:TECK.B,NYSE:TECK); the funds will be used in part for exploration and development. The company’s share price hit a year-to-date high of C$0.99 on December 21.

Year-to-date gain: 39.47 percent; market cap: C$26.65 billion; current share price: C$53.00

Teck Resources is a major global polymetallic mining company, as well as one of the top zinc producers in the world. The company mines zinc at its Red Dog mine in Alaska, which produced 503,000 MT of zinc in concentrate in 2021. It also has the Antamina copper-zinc mine in Peru, as well as a portfolio of zinc projects globally.

Teck’s share price hit its 2022 high on April 18 at C$62.70, which coincided with zinc’s price high of US$4,498.50 a day later.

In May, Teck announced plans to begin a Zinc Satellite program with the goal of "surfac(ing) value" at five of its zinc projects: Aktigiruq, Anarraaq and Su-Lik in Alaska; Cirque in BC, Canada; and Teena in Australia's Northern Territory.

“Zinc Satellite will leverage our successful Project Satellite approach of making prudent investments to advance each asset by identifying pragmatic development options and paths to value,” Teck President and CEO Don Lindsay said. “Value could ultimately be realized through a standalone investment, a partnership, or other transaction."

Year-to-date gain: 9.76 percent; market cap: C$27.18 million; current share price: C$0.225

Ascendant Resources is an exploration company working to aggressively advance its Lagoa Salgada zinc project in Portugal. The project is located in the prolific Iberian pyrite belt, which stretches between Portugal and Spain. Ascendant owns a 50 percent interest in Lagoa Salgada, and can earn up to an 80 percent interest in the asset.

Earlier this year, the Portuguese government designated Lagoa Salgada a project of national interest, allowing Ascendant access to “expedited procedures and shorter implementation periods for permitting and construction.”

Ascendant is currently focused on developing the project’s feasibility study, with exploration continuing at the site throughout the year. At the end of November, the company announced a 5,000 meter satellite target exploration program at the project’s Terra Nova North and South zones. The first phase of the focused drilling program will test one target in each zone. A week later, drill results from previous exploration showed highlights of 58 meters testing at 20.51 percent zinc equivalent.

Most recently, Ascendant completed a C$2.5 million payment for Lagoa Salgada. Once the property's feasibility study is finished in Q1 2023, the company will have satisfied the conditions to earn an 80 percent interest in the project.