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Battery Metals
Top 11 Battery Metals Stocks on the TSX and TSXV (Updated May 2023)
May. 23, 2023 01:50PM PST
What are the top battery metals stocks? Here’s a look at the battery metals companies with the biggest year-to-date gains so far in 2023.
Last year was a breakout period for many battery metals due to the ever-strengthening electric vehicle market. Although in many cases prices have cooled from those peaks, the sector is still going strong.
For those who want to get more specific, check out the Investing News Network's Q1 2023 updates on lithium and nickel, as well as our 2022 reviews of cobalt and graphite, which outline the recent performance of these commodities.
Unsurprisingly, companies focused on these resources are in the limelight, and many are seeing strong year-to-date gains. Below the Investing News Network has gathered the top battery metals stocks on the TSX and TSXV with year-to-date gains, focusing on companies operating in the lithium, cobalt and graphite sectors, with a special mention to nickel.
Only stocks with market caps above C$10 million are included. All data was obtained via TradingView’s stock screener on May 18, 2023. Read on to learn more about the top battery metals stocks so far this year.
1. Volt Lithium (TSXV:VLT)
Year-to-date gain: 336.36 percent; market cap: C$44.62 million; current share price: C$0.48
Volt Lithium is focused on becoming a producer of lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate from oilfield brines at its Rainbow Lake project in Alberta, where it plans to use its proprietary direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology. Previously named Allied Copper, the company changed its name on April 27 following a successful shareholder vote. Volt Lithium was previously the name of the company's lithium division, and the change reflects its shift to a full focus on battery metals.
The company started 2023 with a share price of C$0.11 and has trended up significantly throughout the year. On April 6, Volt Lithium announced a breakthrough with its DLE technology. The new version, IES-300, maintains IES-200’s 93 percent lithium recoveries and reduces the amount of reagent required, lowering operating costs. The company’s share price spiked significantly on the news, and has mostly stayed elevated since then, hitting a year-to-date high of C$0.52 on May 15.
On May 18, Volt Lithium shared its initial mineral resource report for Rainbow Lake, reporting an inferred mineral resource of 4.3 million metric tons (MT) of lithium carbonate equivalent. The property has an estimated 99 billion barrels of brine with concentrations of up to 121 milligrams per liter.
2. Q2 Metals (TSXV:QTWO)
Year-to-date gain: 170.49 percent; market cap: C$49.53 million; current share price: C$0.67
Q2 Metals is an exploration company focused on advancing its Mia lithium property in James Bay, Quebec. It also has the Stellar lithium property north of Mia, which it acquired in March, as well as the Big Hill and Titan gold projects in Queensland, Australia.
Q2’s share price began climbing early in the year, jumping from C$0.45 to C$0.62 on the January 23 appointment of Neil McCallum as a director and the company’s vice president of exploration. In 2016, McCallum identified and staked Patriot Battery Metals' (TSXV:PMET,OTCQX:PMETF) Corvette lithium property, which is located in the same region as Q2’s lithium projects. Two days later, the company commenced a C$10 million private placement financing.
The company’s share price continued climbing during the following weeks to hit a year-to-date high of C$1.05 on February 6.
On March 2, Q2 shared its exploration plans for the Mia property in 2023 and announced its acquisition of the Stellar lithium property, which is just 6 kilometers north of Mia. In early April, Q2 began the Phase 1 portion of its 2023 exploration campaign at the Mia project, which includes an IP-resistivity geophysical survey. The company completed Phase 1 on April 26 and plans to begin Phase 2 — ground mapping and sampling — after May 20.
3. Patriot Battery Metals (TSXV:PMET)
Year-to-date gain: 128.16 percent; market cap: C$1.47 billion; current share price: C$15.79
Patriot Battery Metals is an exploration and development company that is working on advancing its Corvette lithium property, which hosts the CV5 lithium pegmatite target, in Quebec’s James Bay region. The company’s winter 2023 drill program is focused on extending the CV5 pegmatite at Corvette, and will cover at least 20,000 meters using five drill rigs.
On January 18, Patriot shared assays from its 2022 exploration, reporting the highest-grade lithium intercept so far at CV5 — 156.9 meters at 2.12 percent lithium oxide, including 25 meters at 5.04 percent and 5 meters at 6.36 percent. This news started upward momentum for the company’s share price, which continued moving up through news of the appointment of Natacha Garout as CFO, a new omnibus equity incentive plan, the addition of Mélissa Desrochers to its board and more results from 2022 drilling.
Patriot hit its current year-to-date high of C$17.17 on February 6, when it announced that holes from its 2023 drill campaign extended the CV5 pegmatite by at least 400 meters to 2.6 kilometers. As of May 1, a series of further results from the campaign had extended it to at least 3.7 kilometers. In late February, Patriot shared that heavy liquid separation testing on core samples from CV5 indicate that a dense media separation process can be used for the pegmatite body. The testing returned an average spodumene concentrate grade of 5.98 percent at 77 percent recovery.
Patriot plans to use funds from a C$50 million flow-through raising, which it completed in March, to fund its work at Corvette. On April 12, the company gave an update on the development of the CV5 pegmatite towards prefeasibility, including the actions it is taking in addition to the drill campaign. It plans to have an initial resource estimate for CV5 in late June. The company’s share price has seen upward momentum in May, which brought the release of new drill results.
1. DLP Resources (TSXV:DLP)
Year-to-date gain: 134.78 percent; market cap: C$37.66 million; current share price: C$0.54
Exploration company DLP Resources is focused on base metals and cobalt projects in Southeast BC. It has two wholly owned cobalt projects, the Hungry Creek copper-cobalt-silver project and the Redburn Creek copper-cobalt project. The company also has the Aurora porphyry copper-molybdenum project in Peru. In late February 2023, the company commenced its 2023 drilling at Aurora.
DLP's share price jumped significantly to C$0.40 on Tuesday (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.
On May 2, DLP released results for its fourth drill hole at Aurora. The drilling saw a highlight interval of 0.53 percent copper or 0.86 percent copper equivalent over 153.1 meters. The company’s share price climbed up over the following week to a year-to-date high of C$0.55 on May 9.
2. Nickel 28 Capital (TSXV:NKL)
Year-to-date gain: 32.73 percent; market cap: C$131.48 million; current share price: C$1.46
Nickel 28 Capital is a streaming and royalty company that has an 8.56 percent joint venture interest in the Ramu nickel-cobalt operation in Papua New Guinea and royalty agreements for 13 other projects. Nickel 28 is working towards the anticipated full repayment of its debt for the construction of Ramu in 2024, at which point it says it plans to use net cashflow for dividends and distributions.
In recent months, the company has been embroiled in a conflict with shareholder Pelham Investment Partners, which made a play to acquire a larger share of the company and influence its direction through a tender offer to minority shareholders.
Pelham’s tender offer expired on April 26 and the firm was ultimately tendered 3.66 million shares. Once it has completed the purchase of those shares, Pelham said it will be the company’s single largest shareholder at 10.5 percent, and as such it called on Nickel 28’s board of directors for a change in course to “reestablish shareholder support.” The company’s share price jumped to C$1.25 the same day, a year-to-date high at that time.
On May 3, Nickel 28 shared Q1 operational results for Ramu, which performed at 111 percent nameplate capacity, according to the release. In the same release, the company stated it had decided to not renew its equity-based compensation plan after conferring with several shareholders — none of whom were Pelham — and considering their feedback.
Nickel 28 released further news on May 5, sharing that it had received a list of five director nominees from Pelham, including the fund’s CEO Ned Collery. The company said it would review the information before responding further. Its share price rose throughout the week to peak at C$1.70.
Four days later, Nickel 28 announced it was rejecting a “with prejudice” settlement offer from Pelham, which included demands such as the resignation of three Nickel 28 directors, the appointment of Collery and two other Pelham nominees and “the reimbursement of an uncapped amount of Pelham’s ‘expenses.’”
Most recently, Nickel 28 shared its 2023 financial results and a letter to shareholders ahead of its annual general meeting on June 12. In the letter, the company emphasizes that the fund members do not have the necessary expertise to control a mining company.
1. Mason Graphite (TSXV:LLG)
Year-to-date gain: 63.33 percent; market cap: C$34.62 million; current share price: C$0.245
Mason Graphite is working to “develop vertical and horizontal integration in the mining industry," and its main focus is battery materials and their by-products. Mason owns the Lac Guéret deposit, which it says is “one of the richest graphite deposits in the world.”
Lac Guéret hosts the Uatnan project, which Mason is working to develop in collaboration with Nouveau Monde Graphite (TSXV:NOU,NYSE:NMG); the two companies are working toward a potential joint venture on the project. Under the agreement, production from Uatnan would use Nouveau Monde’s Phase 1 natural graphite flake concentrator plant.
Mason Graphite’s share price shot up at the beginning of the year after the company released its preliminary economic assessment for the Uatnan project, rising from C$0.22 overnight to a year-to-date high of C$0.42 by January 19. The document, which the company filed in March, shows annual graphite concentrate production of 500,000 MT over a 24 year life of mine.
Most recently, Mason released news from its 41 percent owned graphene company, Black Swan Graphene (TSXV:SWAN,OTCQB:BSWGF), which it spun out last year.
2. Graphite One (TSXV:GPH)
Year-to-date gain: 46.53 percent; market cap: C$168.43 million; current share price: C$1.48
Graphite One aims to be a graphite anode producer at its Graphite One project, which would be fed using material from its Graphite Creek project in Alaska, US.
In February, drill results from 2022 exploration at Graphite Creek showed the expansion of mineralization with significant graphite grades. The company’s share price hit a year-to-date high of C$1.93 on March 7, days before it announced that the US Geological Survey’s report on the project reflects its own discoveries. According to the report, “(Graphite Creek) is the largest known flake graphite resource in the USA and is among the largest in the world.”
Ultimately, the company announced, its 2022 exploration increased its resource by 15.5 percent in the measured and indicated categories to 37.6 million MT at 5.41 percent contained graphite. Most recently, Graphite One received sample graphite anodes created from its graphite, and the resultant product is now being sent for evaluation.
3. Leading Edge Materials (TSXV:LEM)
Year-to-date gain: 25 percent; market cap: C$33.11 million; current share price: C$0.20
Leading Edge Materials is focused on developing projects in countries that are part of the European Union. Its assets, which focus on critical raw materials, are the Woxna graphite project and Norra Kärr heavy rare earth elements project in Sweden, along with the 51 percent owned Bihor Sud nickel-cobalt project in Romania. Woxna is currently on care and maintenance, although the company announced in 2022 that it was evaluating a restart at Woxna.
Leading Edge’s share price jumped to start the year alongside a corporate update on its three projects. With regards to Woxna, the company stated: “a change in the Company’s executive management during the second half of the year delayed a decision on this process.” The company is currently working on an environmental study for Norra Kärr and is planning a prefeasibility study for the rare earths project in the second half of 2023.
On January 23, Leading Edge identified extensive nickel and cobalt in galleries at its Bihor Sud project. Its share price rose to a year-to-date high of C$0.29 two days later. The company went on to discover further mineralization in March, and released quarterly results later that month.
1. SPC Nickel (TSXV:SPC)
Year-to-date gain: 46.15 percent; market cap: C$12.5 million; current share price: C$0.095
SPC Nickel has a portfolio of projects in Canada centered on nickel, copper and platinum-group metals. The company’s primary focus is its Lockerby East project in Ontario's Sudbury mining camp. In January, SPC entered into an option agreement with Vale Canada to acquire the Crean Hill 3 property; it is contiguous to Lockerby East’s West Graham deposit, meaning that SPC has been able to consolidate the two deposits. The company also has the Aer-Kidd and Janes projects in Ontario and the Muskox project in Nunavut.
The Crean Hill 3 acquisition drove the company’s share price up early in the year, and in the following weeks it reached a year-to-date high of C$0.13 on February 10.
Although it moved down for much of March, SPC’s share price jumped again on March 27, when exploration results from Phase 1 drilling at West Graham revealed over 7 meters of massive to semi-massive sulfide mineralization in one of the drill holes.
The following day, SPC entered into an option agreement for the right to acquire a 100 percent interest in Bathurst Metals’ (TSXV:BMV,OTC Pink:BMVVF) McGregor Lake and Speers Lake properties in Nunavut. The two assets are part of the Muskox intrusion, which hosts SPC’s Muskox project; SPC plans to consolidate this area as well.
The company’s share price rose to C$0.12 when it released more Phase 1 drill results from West Graham, with a highlight of 2.48 percent nickel and 0.68 percent copper over 7.8 meters within a 143 meter zone of what SPC refers to as “West Graham-style mineralization consisting of 5 to 20% disseminated to blebby sulphides.” Further assays from the 5,000 meter drill program were released on April 26, and the company said it hopes to deliver a combined mineral resource estimate for the West Graham project by 2023’s end.
2. Nickel 28 Capital (TSXV:NKL)
Year-to-date gain: 32.73 percent; market cap: C$131.48 million; current share price: C$1.46
For information on what has affected Nickel 28 Capital so far this year, see its entry under cobalt above.
3. Power Nickel (TSXV:PNPN)
Year-to-date gain: 25.64 percent; market cap: C$32.44 million; current share price: C$0.245
Power Nickel’s goal is to meet the needs of the battery supply chain by setting itself up to supply high-grade nickel from its flagship NISK project in Quebec, Canada, which it says is being developed into “one of the greenest sources of class-1 nickel in history.” In addition to nickel, the project also holds copper, cobalt, palladium and platinum mineralization, all of which are important metals to the battery market.
Power Nickel’s share price rocketed up early in the year on January 31, when the company partnered with Fleet Space Technologies, an Australian microsatellite operator and developer, for exploration at NISK. According to a release, Fleet Space’s ExoSphere sound mapping technology will generate data that can be used to create a full 3D image of the subsurface to a depth of 2 kilometers, giving Power Nickel a “clear, rich image of what resources may be below ground” with a turnaround of as short as four days. The company plans to use this data to increase its drilling accuracy and potentially find new deposits.
Power Nickel’s share price reached a year-to-date high of C$0.36 on February 21 after climbing through the previous weeks. In the months since, Power Nickel has completed the first and second tranches of a C$5 million private placement, the balance of which it closed in early May. The company has also continued to release results from its 2022 drilling.
On April 27, the company announced that step-out holes at NISK show indications of a new mineralized zone. The release also includes the remaining assays from 2022 drilling and the first assays from Power Nickel's winter 2023 program. Most recently, the company discovered a new high-grade zone that had previously never been drilled.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Lauren Kelly, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
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