As for Canada, nickel is listed as a top priority in the government's Critical Minerals Strategy. The country is the world's fourth largest producer of nickel, with much of its production coming from mines in Ontario's Sudbury Basin, including Vale’s (NYSE:VALE) Sudbury operation and Glencore's (LSE:GLEN,OTC Pink:GLCNF) Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations.
Many Canadian-listed resource companies also have important projects in the United States. While the US is only the 9th largest nickel producing country, the metal is listed on the nation's Critical Minerals List and the government is keen on increasing its domestic production of nickel even if it means funding projects operated by Canadian nickel companies.
Against that backdrop, how have Canadian nickel stocks performed in 2025? Below are the top nickel stocks in Canada on the TSX, TSXV and CSE by share price performance so far this year.
All year-to-date and share price data was obtained on July 21, 2025, using TradingView’s stock screener. Canadian nickel stocks with market caps above C$10 million at that time were considered.
Year-to-date gain: 205.88 percent
Market cap: C$239.45 million
Share price: C$0.26
Talon Metals is focused on developing high-grade nickel resources for the US domestic battery supply chain. The company has partnered with mining giant Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO,NYSE:RIO,LSE:RIO) on the Tamarack nickel-copper project located in Minnesota, US. Talon has an earn-in right to acquire up to 60 percent of Tamarack and currently owns 51 percent.
An environmental review process is underway for the proposed Tamarack underground mine. The company plans to process ore from the mine at a proposed battery mineral processing facility in North Dakota. Talon has said it intends to initiate the permitting process for the processing facility in 2025.
Talon has a six year offtake deal with Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) set to commence once Tamarack enters commercial production, for a total of 75,000 metric tons, or 165 million pounds, of nickel concentrate, as well as cobalt and iron by-products, from Tamarack once it's in commercial production.
The company is also the operator of the Boulderdash nickel-copper discovery and numerous high-grade nickel-copper prospects in Michigan, which it optioned to Lundin Mining (TSX:LUN,OTC Pink:LUNMF) in early March.
Talon has made multiple significant discoveries at Tamarack in 2025 that supported its share price. In late March, the company announced a significant massive sulfide discovery at Tamarack with an intercept measuring over 8.25 meters logged as 95 percent sulfide content.
After starting Q2 at C$0.12, Talon's share price took off in earnest after the May 12 news of another massive sulfide discovery with this one measuring a cumulative 34.9 meters over 47.33 meters in total length starting at a depth of 762.34 meters — the thickest in the project's history.
On June 5, Talon reported record assays from the new discovery at Tamarack, with the 34.9 meter intercept grading 57.76 percent copper equivalent or 28.88 percent nickel equivalent. Later that month, the company completed a C$41 million financing, with proceeds to be used to advance Tamarack.
After climbing through Q2, Talon shares hit a year-to-date high of C$0.28 on July 2.
Year-to-date gain: 140 percent
Market cap: C$13.38 million
Share price: C$0.06
Homeland Nickel has a portfolio of nickel projects in Oregon, US: Red Flat, Cleopatra, Eight Dollar Mountain and Shamrock. Previously named Spruce Ridge Resources, the company changed its name in mid-2024 in a vertical amalgamation after acquiring Homeland Nickel, which owned the Red Flat and Cleopatra nickel projects.
Benton Resources (TSXV:BEX) completed an earn-in agreement for a 70 percent interest in Homeland's Great Burnt copper and South Pond gold projects in Newfoundland, Canada, last year.
In addition, the company holds investments in mining companies with nickel projects, including Benton Resources Canada Nickel Company (TSXV:CNC,OTCQX:CNIKF), Noble Mineral Exploration (TSXV:NOB,OTCQB:NLPXF) and.
Shares in Homeland Nickel reached their year-to-date high of C$0.07 a few times this year between March 18 to April 16.
In early April, the company released an exploration update for its properties. At its Oregon nickel properties, a bulk sample program is being planned at Red Flats, an exploration program is planned for this year at Shamrock and a sampling program was upcoming at Eight Dollar Mountain.
On July 17, Homeland shared results from its Eight Dollar Mountain sampling program, with assays indicating the presence of nickel laterite in values ranging from 0.21 percent to 2.21 percent nickel with an average of 0.67 percent nickel across 56 samples.
Year-to-date gain: 91.67 percent
Market cap: C$53.61 million
Share price: C$0.23
Stillwater Critical Minerals’ flagship asset is its Stillwater West polymetallic project in Montana, US. In addition to the platinum-group elements, copper, cobalt and gold resources identified on the property, a January 2023 inferred mineral resource estimate on Stillwater West shows it has the largest nickel resource in an active US mining district.
In late March, the company reported multiple large-scale magmatic sulfide targets following analysis of a property-wide third-party MobileMtm magneto-telluric geophysical survey completed in late 2024.
The data from the survey was also used to build a new 3D geological model of the lower Stillwater Igneous Complex that the company used to further prioritize targets at Stillwater West for its 2025 drill campaign.
Stillwater Critical Minerals' share price reached a year-to-date high of C$0.28 on June 2.
Drill rigs were mobilized in mid-June for the company's 2025 drill program Stillwater West project, which aims to expand drill-defined high-grade sulfide mineralization in its advanced project areas and test priority targets identified with its earlier geophysical survey. The campaign will be conducted in collaboration with Glencore and technical partners ALS GoldSpot.
Stillwater competed a C$7 million financing in mid-July.
Year-to-date gain: 32.96 percent
Market cap: C$345.71 million
Share price: C$1.80
Magna Mining is a base metals exploration and development company based in Sudbury, Ontario. The company’s key assets are the Crean Hill project and the formerly producing Levack and Shakespeare mines. In July, Magna also recently acquired a portfolio of projects including past-producing assets from NorthX Nickel (CSE:NIX).
Shakespeare is a past-producing nickel, copper and platinum-group metals mine with major permits in place. The property hosts an indicated open-pit resource of 16.51 million metric tons at 0.56 percent nickel equivalent. Crean Hill also hosts a past-producing mine that produced the same resources.
Magna's share price started off the year at C$1.42, and gradually climbed throughout the following weeks to reach a year-to-date high of C$1.84 on February 5.
Its share price was supported by continued positive updates on its acquisition of a portfolio of base metals assets in the Sudbury Basin, including the producing McCreedy West copper-nickel mine, through a share purchase agreement with a subsidiary of KGHM Polska Miedz (FWB:KGHA). The company closed the deal at the end of February.
Magna was included in the 2025 TSX Venture 50 list, which was released in mid-February, and closed a C$33.5 million private placement in early March.
The Ontario government awarded Magna C$500,000 in funding for the Crean Hill project in late June from the Critical Minerals Innovation Fund.
At Levack, the company reported significant drill results in July, highlighting a 2.9 meter interval of high-grade mineralization that included a 0.6 meter interval grading 2.6 percent copper, 8.1 percent nickel and 17.8 grams per metric ton combined platinum, palladium and gold.
Year-to-date gain: 23.85 percent
Market cap: C$303.04 million
Share price: C$1.35
Power Metallic Mines, formerly Power Nickel, is developing its 80 percent owned Nisk polymetallic property near Nemaska in Québec, Canada, which hosts high-grade nickel, copper, platinum, palladium, gold and silver mineralization.
The company was recognized as one of 2024's top 50 performers on the TSX Venture Exchange, ranking as the top mining company and fourth overall company due to its 365 percent share price appreciation for the year.
Ongoing work at the Nisk project has generated positive news flow for Power Metallic in 2025. After starting the year at C$1.07, the company's share price climbed to C$1.49 by January 30 following two key announcements.
First, the company released drill results from a 2024 fall campaign at Nisk's Lion zone and said it was starting a winter 2025 drill campaign at the site. Shortly after, it announced the discovery of Tiger, a new find located 700 meters east of the Lion zone; it said it would target Tiger during winter drilling.
From there, Power Metallic shares jumped more than 26 percent to reach C$1.88 on February 6, its year-to-date high. This followed further drill results out the 2024 fall campaign, with notable assays further demonstrating the high-grade nature of the mineralization.
Other notable news supporting the company's share price in Q1 included the closing of a C$50 million private placement and plans to scale up the 2025 winter drill campaign from three to six rigs in the second quarter. Additionally, further results from the 2024 fall campaign expanded the Lion zone with the deepest assayed intersection to date, plus initial nickel-copper assays from the new Tiger zone.
While its share price trended downwards through mid-May, it began moving back up in the second half of Q2, during which time the company expanded the Nisk and Lion deposit areas with the acquisition of 167 square kilometers of claims from Li-FT Power (TSXV:LIFT,OTCQX:LIFFF).
In July, Power Metallic announced that its summer to fall drilling program was well underway, with four drill rigs targeting the Lion, Tiger and Nisk deposits.
FAQs for nickel investing
How to invest in nickel?
There are a variety of ways to invest in nickel, but stocks and exchange-traded products are the most common. Nickel-focused companies can be found globally on various exchanges, and through the use of a broker or a service such as an app, investors can purchase companies and products that match their investing outlook.
Before buying a nickel stock, potential investors should take time to research the companies they’re considering; they should also decide how many shares will be purchased, and what price they are willing to pay. With many options on the market, it's critical to complete due diligence before making any investment decisions.
Nickel stocks like those mentioned above could be a good option for investors interested in the space. Experienced investors can also look at nickel futures.
What is nickel used for?
Nickel has a variety of applications, including stainless steel, coins and lithium-ion batteries. Its main use is an alloy material for products such as stainless steel, and it is also used for plating metals to reduce corrosion. As for coins, its uses include the 5 cent coin, named the nickel, in the US and Canada; the US nickel is made up of 25 percent nickel and 75 percent copper, while Canada's nickel has nickel plating that makes up 2 percent of its composition.
Nickel is also used in certain lithium-ion battery compositions, bringing demand from sectors like electric vehicles and energy storage systems.
Where is nickel mined?
The world's top nickel-producing countries are primarily in Asia: Indonesia, the Philippines and Russia make up the top three. Rounding out the top five are Canada and China. Indonesia's production stands far ahead of the rest of the pack, with 2024 output of 2.2 million metric tons compared to the Philippines' 330,000 metric tons and Canada's 190,000 metric tons.
Significant nickel miners include Norilsk Nickel (MCX:GMKN), Nickel Asia, BHP (ASX:BHP,NYSE:BHP,LSE:BHP) and Glencore.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Melissa Pistilli, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Editorial Disclosure: Noble Mineral Explorationis a client of the Investing News Network. This article is not paid-for content.
Table 2 – Baptiste Nickel Sulphate Crystal Quality vs. Target Specification