1. Canada Silver Cobalt Works (TSXV:CCW)

Year-to-date gain: 33.33 percent; current share price: C$0.22

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.

In mid-January, Canada Silver Cobalt Works shared drill results from expansion exploration at Castle, including a highlight of 2,571.53 grams per tonne silver and 1.12 percent cobalt. Later that month, the company released its 2021 summary and 2022 outlook. The company’s most recent news came on March 3, when it revealed drill results from its Graal battery metals property in Northern Quebec, containing results with up to 0.12 percent cobalt.

2. UEX (TSX:UEX)

Year-to-date gain: 10.81 percent; current share price: C$0.41

UEX is a uranium-focused company exploring its Christie Lake project in Saskatchewan’s Athabasca Basin. However, the company's second project is the West Bear cobalt-nickel project in the same jurisdiction, which UEX is exploring through its 100 percent owned subsidiary CoEX Metals. West Bear contains over 5.12 million pounds of cobalt and 5.67 million pounds of nickel.

While the Athabasca Basin is famous for its uranium reserves, according to UEX, it was the first company to discover the basin’s cobalt and nickel potential. In fact, West Bear is the only primary cobalt deposit in Canada. The company also owns two other cobalt exploration projects, the Axis Lake and Key West projects.

On January 12, UEX released its only news so far this year: an outline of its plans for winter exploration at its uranium projects. It has not yet revealed any exploration plans for its cobalt properties in 2022.

3. Giga Metals (TSXV:MZN)

Year-to-date gain: 6.41 percent; current share price: C$0.415

The last company on the list is Giga Metals, which is focused on supplying nickel and cobalt to aid in the clean energy future. The company plans to fast track its Turnagain project in North-Central BC, Canada, which it describes as one of the “largest undeveloped nickel-cobalt sulphide deposits in the world in terms of total contained nickel.” It has measured and indicated resources of 5.2 billion pounds of nickel and 312 million pounds of cobalt, as well as inferred resources of 5.5 billion pounds of nickel and 327 million pounds of cobalt.

On January 31, Giga Metals announced a land swap with Copper Fox Metals (TSXV:CUU,OTCQX:CPFXF), in which it gave Copper Fox a strip of properties along its northwest claims at Turnagain in exchange for land near the south end of the property. Giga Metals believes its newly acquired land could be used to host a tailings management facility and possibly a mill as well.