Top 5 Canadian Nickel Stocks in 2026

1. Homeland Nickel (TSXV:SHL)

Year-to-date gain: 377.78 percent
Market cap: C$100.01 million
Share price: C$0.43

Homeland Nickel has a portfolio of nickel projects in Oregon, US. In addition, the company holds investments in mining companies with nickel projects, including Benton Resources (TSXV:BEX,OTCPL:BNTRF), Canada Nickel Company (TSXV:CNC,OTCQX:CNIKF) and Noble Mineral Exploration (TSXV:NOB,OTCQB:NLPXF).

In November 2025, the company partnered with Patriot Nickel and said it would be optioning up to 80 percent ownership of its Cleopatra and Eight Dollar Mountain projects to Patriot in exchange for a 20 percent share of Patriot upon its initial public offering, contingent on Patriot meeting certain milestones.

Shares of Homeland surged after the January 13 news that Canada Nickel’s Crawford project near Timmins in Ontario, Canada, was selected for the province’s “One Project, One Process” review framework, which will allow for an accelerated timetable for permitting and development of the asset. Homeland owns 442,000 Canada Nickel shares.

The news came alongside a surge in the nickel price to as high as US$18,785 on January 14.

In an update on March 17, Homeland reported that Jeffrey Strobel had been appointed CEO of Patriot. Homeland also closed its acquisition of the Woodcock Mountain nickel laterite property in Oregon, and entered an agreement to acquire the nearby Rough and Ready project, which has historic assays of up to 2 percent nickel.

On May 14, Homeland entered into a memorandum of understanding with Westwin Elements to develop a solution for keeping the full nickel value chain of mining, processing and refining nickel products inside the US. Westwin has constructed a demonstration facility that produces high-purity nickel products using vapor metallurgy.

As for work at its projects, Homeland's most recent update came on September 17, when the US Forest Service accepted its plan of operation for a drill program at the Red Flat project, moving it to environmental and cultural review. Homeland added that it would submit a revised plan for Cleopatra the following week.

The release also notes that the company completed a recompilation of historical data at both projects, allowing it to produce updated mineral resource estimates without additional fieldwork. Homeland said its next step would be to work with Patriot to produce preliminary economic assessments for the projects.

On September 28, Homeland signed a binding offtake agreement with Westwin Elements under which Homeland will supply Westwin with 20,000 MT of nickel concentrate per year from Red Flat.

Shares of Homeland reached a year-to-date high of C$0.70 on January 21.

2. NiCAN (TSXV:NICN)

Year-to-date gain: 225 percent
Market cap: C$17.92 million
Share price: C$0.13

NiCAN is a nickel exploration company working to advance a pair of projects in Manitoba, Canada: the Wine nickel-copper project and the Pipy nickel property, which consists of two areas: Pipy North and Pipy South.

Pipy has been NiCAN's main focus in 2026. A Phase 1 reconnaissance exploration at Pipy South that started in late 2025 has resulted in multiple discoveries driving the company's news flow and strategy this year.

On February 17, NiCAN confirmed high-grade nickel-bearing massive sulfides at the site within the Pipe formation. One highlighted assay from diamond drilling returned 1.54 percent nickel, 0.17 percent copper and 0.06 percent cobalt over 1.45 meters at a depth of 60 meters. The next month, on March 5, the company acquired 13 additional claims adjacent to the Pipy South area after the discovery of near-surface gold in February.

Since then, the company has been conducting follow-up drilling, with the latest update on October 13, when it extended the Horseshoe gold zone by more than 400 meters along strike.

The company said gold mineralization remains open in all directions.

Shares of NiCAN reached a year-to-date high of C$0.20 on September 24.

3. First Atlantic Nickel & Cobalt (TSXV:FAN)

Year-to-date gain: 195.45 percent
Market cap: C$113.5 million
Share price: C$0.65

First Atlantic Nickel & Cobalt is a critical minerals explorer and developer advancing its Pipestone XL project in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It contains the mineral awaruite, an alloy of nickel, iron and cobalt.

The nickel and cobalt property spans the breadth of the 30 kilometer Pipestone ophiolite complex and hosts multiple zones with nickel, iron and cobalt mineralization. To date, First Atlantic has identified several primary targets at the site, including the RPM, Alloy Max, Super Gulp and Chrome Pond zones.

On March 31, First Atlantic was accepted as a member of the US Defense Industrial Base Consortium under the Office of the Assistant Secretary of War for Industrial Base Policy, which manages investments, including those under the Defense Production Act. The release outlines how the Pipestone XL project addresses significant issues outlined by the Department of War, including the sourcing of nickel and cobalt in North America.

The awaruite mineralization at Pipestone XL is a metallic alloy with magnetic properties, and First Atlantic has been developing the Onshore Max smelter-free recovery and concentration process; preliminary results from RPM zone rock samples show a high-grade alloy concentrate averaging 67.4 percent nickel, reaching heights of 71.9 percent nickel and 1.76 percent cobalt. The test used a two stage process, starting with low-intensity magnetic separation and moving to flotation, skipping the typical midstream stages of smelting, roasting and high-pressure acid leaching.

First Atlantic has also been expanding the Alloy Max zone, its second large-scale awaruite target. In its most recent exploration update on October 13, the company reported the discovery of a new Alloy Max South zone, where its first hole intersected visible near-surface awaruite. The company considers it the best result to date at the target.

In addition to its project work, the company has been actively raising funds. The latest announcement came on October 6, when it closed a series of non-brokered private placements that raised gross proceeds of C$13.4 million. The company intends to use the funds to expand drilling at the Alloy Max and RPM zones.

Shares of First Atlantic reached a year-to-date high of C$1.28 on June 5.

4. Grid Metals (TSXV:GRDM)

Year-to-date gain: 53.57 percent
Market cap: C$51.27 million
Share price: C$0.215

Grid Metals is an exploration and development company focused on its portfolio of critical metals assets in Manitoba, Canada, namely the Falcon West cesium-lithium project, Makwa nickel project, Mayville copper project and Donner lithium project. Each of the projects is located east of Winnipeg along the border with Ontario.

The Makwa project is situated in the Bird River greenstone belt, which Grid says is comparable to Ontario’s Ring of Fire region. The project is funded through an option agreement signed with Teck Resources (TSX:TECK.A,TSX:TECK.B,NYSE:TECK) in December 2024. Under the agreement, Teck can earn up to a 70 percent interest in the property by making cumulative expenditures of C$15.7 million and a cash payment of C$1.6 million.

While the company has been focused on Falcon West for much of the year, it provided an update on its Makwa nickel project on June 9. The announcement states that as of May 31, Teck had incurred more than C$2 million in exploration expenditures, meeting its 2026 obligation under the agreement.

The next milestone is cumulative expenditures of C$3.7 million by May 31, 2027.

The release also highlights exploration efforts at the property, including a Q4 2025 drill program at the Pavo anomaly, which intersected narrow intervals of mineralization over 250 meters of strike and to depths of 150 meters. It notes that in Q1 of this year, the company completed a ground electromagnetic survey at the Ore Fault deposit, detecting an anomaly extending to depths of 300 to 400 meters in a region with limited historic drilling.

The company said it has not made a decision on future exploration programs at the site.

Shares of Grid reached a year-to-date high of C$0.22 on October 9.

5. Talon Metals (TSX:TLO)

Year-to-date gain: 39.52 percent
Market cap: C$1.44 billion
Share price: C$8.65

Talon Metals owns the Eagle mine in Michigan and the Tamarack project in Minnesota, US.

Talon became a producer on January 9, when it completed its acquisition of the Eagle mine and Humboldt mill from Lundin Mining (TSX:LUN,OTCPL:LUNMF) in exchange for about 275.2 million Talon shares. Executive Chair Henri van Rooyen called the deal a defining moment that creates the only operating primary nickel-copper company in the US.

In its Q2 results, Talon reported production of 1,843 MT of contained nickel and 1,771 MT of contained copper from Eagle. While Eagle provides cashflow, Talon’s recent focus has been on its Tamarack property.

It lies about 90 kilometers west of Duluth and consists of two separate packages: Tamarack North and Tamarack South. Together the properties host 18 kilometers of strike across more than 31,000 acres, with Talon’s main focus directed at Tamarack North, which hosts the primary deposit. According to a November 2022 technical report, Tamarack North hosts an indicated resource of 8.56 million MT with grades of 1.73 percent nickel, 0.92 percent copper, 0.05 percent cobalt, 0.34 grams per MT (g/t) platinum, 0.21 g/t palladium and 0.17 g/t gold.

The project is being explored under an earn-in agreement between Talon Metals and Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO,NYSE:RIO,LSE:RIO) subsidiary Kennecott Exploration.

Talon owns a 51 percent stake in the property, but can earn up to 60 percent once it completes a feasibility study and makes a US$10 million cash payment to Kennecott before March 14, 2027.

Much of Talon’s share price momentum this year has come from drilling at Tamarack’s Vault zone, a high-grade system that was discovered below the existing resource in 2025. On September 9, Talon reported assays from its longest massive sulfide intercept at the project to date. The hole returned 46.43 meters grading 13.37 percent nickel, 16.54 percent copper, 0.1 percent cobalt, 7.85 g/t palladium, 14.49 g/t platinum and 8.56 g/t gold from a depth of 752.97 meters. It includes a 26.22 meter interval grading 14.95 percent nickel, 17.85 percent copper, 0.11 percent cobalt, 8.53 g/t palladium, 16.79 g/t platinum and 9.13 g/t gold starting at 758 meters.

“Any one of these grades will get your attention, but to see nickel, copper, cobalt, platinum, palladium, and gold all concentrated at these levels in the same rock is particularly significant and one of the many reasons polymetallic deposits like Tamarack are so exciting,” Chief Exploration Officer Brian Goldner said.

The following day, Talon selected the Humboldt mill as the processing location for Tamarack ore, dropping plans for a new processing facility in North Dakota in favor of its newly acquired Michigan infrastructure. Talon also reported on October 6 that it had discovered a mineralized magmatic conduit at its Roland nickel-copper target in Michigan.

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