Top 11 Battery Metals Stocks on the TSX and TSXV (Updated April 2022)

Lithium

1. Avalon Advanced Materials (TSX:AVL)

Year-to-date gain: 100 percent; current share price: C$0.22

Avalon Advanced Materials is focused on clean energy and new technology supply chains. Its five projects are all located in Canada. Its main lithium asset is its Separation Rapids lithium project in Kenora, Ontario. According to the company, it “has the potential to produce high purity lithium compounds for two distinct markets: an industrial mineral product for glass-ceramics and lithium chemicals for energy storage.”

On April 4, Avalon announced a partnership with RenJoules International, which will help with Avalon’s plans to develop a regional lithium battery materials supply chain; the focus will be on supplying future electric vehicle battery manufacturers. The company’s share price spiked on this news, hitting a year-to-date high of C$0.22.

2. Lithium Energi Exploration (TSXV:LEXI)

Year-to-date gain: 90.91 percent; current share price: C$0.315

Lithium Energi Exploration is an acquisition, exploration and development company working in South America’s Lithium Triangle, with over 72,000 hectares of lithium brine concessions in Argentina’s section of the triangle.

In January, the company announced that exploration and development with its joint venture partner Global Oil Management Group was accelerating. The name of the new joint venture is Triangle Lithium Argentina. On March 24, the company shared that, alongside its new joint venture Triangle Lithium Argentina, it had commenced exploration drilling in the Antofalla basin. This news caused its share price to shoot up over the following weeks, moving from C$0.21 on March 24 to a year-to-date high of C$0.35 by April 11.

3. Frontier Lithium (TSXV:FL)

Year-to-date gain: 64.53 percent; current share price: C$3.34

Frontier Lithium’s goal is to become a manufacturer of battery-quality lithium salts for the electric vehicle and lithium-ion battery markets. According to the company, its PAK lithium project “contains one of North America’s highest-grade, large-tonnage hard-rock lithium resources in the form of a rare low-iron spodumene.” The project, which is being actively developed by Frontier, is located in Ontario’s Electric Avenue.

Frontier’s news in 2022 has focused on exploration at PAK’s Spark deposit, where on March 1 it announced an updated indicated resource of 14 million tonnes averaging 1.4 percent lithium oxide, and an inferred resource of 18 million tonnes averaging 1.37 percent lithium oxide. More recently, the company completed a mineral processing pilot plant campaign. Frontier's share price hit a year-to-date high of C$3.60 on April 4.

Cobalt

1. Sherritt International (TSX:S)

Year-to-date gain: 97.53 percent; current share price: C$0.80

Sherritt International is a miner, producer and refiner of high-purity nickel and cobalt. While nickel is its primary focus, it is still a significant producer of cobalt, and believes both metals are essential to the electric vehicle revolution. The company operates a mine in Cuba, as well as a refinery in Alberta, Canada, both of which are part of its 50/50 Moa joint venture with Cuba’s General Nickel Company. The vertically integrated joint venture has a capacity of 35,000 tonnes of nickel and 3,800 tonnes of cobalt produced per year.

In February, Sherritt released its 2021 production results and 2022 guidance. The company expects to see cobalt production in 2022 in line with its 2021 numbers, and has set guidance of 3,400 to 3,700 tonnes compared to 2021’s production of 3,526 tonnes. On March 1, the company announced the appointment of decarbonization expert Chih-Ting Lo to its board of directors, and also named Maryse Bélanger as deputy chair. The focus of these changes is to strengthen Sherritt's commitment to environmental, social and governance matters.

As its a nickel-primary company, Sherritt’s share price saw movement that reflected nickel hitting an all-time-high. Its share price shot up to reach a high of C$0.82 on March 10, and has largely stayed elevated since then.

2. Jervois Global (TSXV:JRV)

Year-to-date gain: 74.07 percent; current share price: C$0.94

Like Sherritt, Jervois focuses on cobalt and nickel, but is a cobalt-primary company. Its goal is to become “the leading global supplier of responsibly sourced cobalt materials … and to provide a secure, reliable supply to customers in the face of geopolitical risks.” The company is on its way to becoming the only cobalt mine in the US with its Idaho Cobalt Operations. Jervois manufactures cobalt products through its Jervois Finland subsidiary.

On January 31, the company shared its Q4 2021 report, including full-year proforma revenue at Jervois Finland of US$295.8 million. The report states that first production of cobalt and copper concentrate at its Idaho Cobalt Operations is expected in Q3 of this year following a drill program in Q1. Shares have climbed steadily throughout the year, hitting a year-to-date high of C$0.94 on April 19 after starting the year at C$0.54.

3. Canada Silver Cobalt Works (TSXV:CCW)

Year-to-date gain: 60.61 percent; current share price: C$0.265

Canada Silver Cobalt Works is a vertically integrated dual-focus exploration and development company operating in Ontario and Quebec, Canada. It intends to mine cobalt as a by-product of silver. The company is the 100 percent owner of its Castle property, which contains the past-producing silver-cobalt Castle mine. Between 1917 and 1989, the Castle mine produced 376,053 pounds of cobalt.

In addition to the Castle property, the company owns two other silver-cobalt properties — Beaver and Violet — as well as the Temiskaming Testing Laboratories in Cobalt, Ontario, which combine bullion pouring, bulk sampling, commercial assaying and e-waste processing. It is exploring its Graal battery metals project in Northern Quebec.

In March and April, Canada Silver Cobalt Works released multiple items about exploration at Graal: drill results returning up to 0.12 percent cobalt, further drill results that intersected a 13.1 meter massive sulfide zone and, most recently, the discovery of a new “major geophysical conductor.” The company also appointed a new CFO on April 1. Shares hit year-to-date highs in the week following that news, peaking at C$0.31 on April 5 and 7.

Graphite

1. NextSource Materials (TSX:NEXT)

Year-to-date growth: 6.44 percent; current share price: C$3.47

NextSource Materials is a graphite company operating its Molo project in Southern Madagascar. The deposit is known for its SuperFlake graphite, which is not found at any other graphite deposits. The Molo project is fully permitted and funded, and production at the project is scheduled to begin in Q2 2022.

On March 1, NextSource announced the results of a preliminary economic assessment for a mine expansion at Molo. The expansion entails a standalone processing plant that will have a production capacity of 150,000 tonnes of flake graphite concentrate per year. The Phase 1 processing plant will see production of 17,000 tonnes per year. The company has not released any news since then.

2. Leading Edge Materials (TSXV:LEM)

Year-to-date growth: 5.05 percent; current share price: C$0.52

Leading Edge Materials is focused on developing projects in EU countries. Its assets, which focus on critical raw materials, are the Woxna graphite project and Norra Kärr heavy rare earths project in Sweden, along with the 51 percent owned Romania nickel-cobalt project in Romania. Woxna is currently on care and maintenance.

In mid-February, Leading Edge announced it was evaluating a restart at Woxna as the market for graphite is improving, with European flake graphite prices having risen about 40 percent compared to the previous year. Then, on March 24, the company released its results for its first fiscal quarter ended January 31. Its share price spiked on the news, but has since fallen lower. Most recently, the company received positive news that Swedish courts upheld an exploration license extension for the Norra Kärr project.

Nickel

1. Garibaldi Resources (TSXV:GGI)

Year-to-date gain: 120 percent; current share price: C$0.55

Garibaldi Resources is an explorer focused on its high-grade Nickel Mountain project in BC, Canada. According to the company, it discovered Northwest BC’s first magmatic nickel massive sulfide, which is within the E&L intrusion at Nickel Mountain. The discovery contains seven metals, including nickel, copper and cobalt. Exploration highlights include 8.3 percent nickel, 4.3 percent copper and 0.19 percent cobalt over 16.75 meters.

Garibaldi released results from a 2021 ZTEM survey at Nickel Mountain on March 31. According to the release, “the large ZTEM response beneath E&L greatly expands the potential for further discovery beneath and around E&L.” In the week following this news, the company’s share price rocketed, peaking at a year-to-date high of C$0.63 on April 4. Since then, the company has released follow-up information about the ZTEM results, including the identification of a new pipe-like target.

2. Sherritt International (TSX:S)

Year-to-date gain: 97.53 percent; current share price: C$0.80

As mentioned in Sherritt’s entry in this article’s cobalt section, Sherritt is a miner, producer and refiner of high-purity nickel and cobalt, and its primary focus is nickel. The company operates a mine in Cuba, and a refinery in Alberta, both of which are part of its 50/50 Moa joint venture with Cuba’s General Nickel Company. The vertically integrated joint venture has a capacity of 35,000 tonnes of nickel and 3,800 tonnes of cobalt produced per year.

In February, Sherritt released its 2021 production results and 2022 guidance. Among other details, the company revealed it expects a production increase for nickel, from 31,184 tonnes in 2021 to guidance of 32,000 to 34,000 tonnes for this year. On March 1, the company announced the appointment of decarbonization expert Chih-Ting Lo to its board of directors, and also named Maryse Bélanger as deputy chair. The focus of these changes is to strengthen Sherritt's commitment to environmental, social and governance matters.

The company’s share price shot up alongside the nickel price to reach a high of C$0.82 on March 10.

3. Grid Metals (TSXV:GRDM)

Year-to-date gain: 90.48 percent; current share price: C$0.20

Grid Metals is a nickel exploration and development company working out of Canada’s Manitoba and Ontario provinces. The company holds a portfolio of five projects that all tie into its goal to target the battery metals industry. Grid’s flagship project is its Makwa Mayville nickel-copper project, which also hosts platinum-group metals and cobalt mineralization. Near Makwa Mayville is Grid’s Mayville lithium property. The company is also exploring the Donner Lake lithium project.

On February 23, Grid Metals provided updates on its nickel and lithium properties, including the drilling of an initial 10 holes at its Makwa Mayville project. Later, on March 11, the company released drill results from its Bannockburn nickel property. The best result was 341.7 meters averaging 0.28 percent nickel. The company’s share price also rose with nickel to hit a high of C$0.23 on March 10. Since then, the company has released exploration results for two drill holes at Donner Lake and 14 at Makwa Mayville.