After trending down in 2023, nickel prices climbed to a 10 month high in late May of this year. However, they’ve since pulled back to four-year lows. While this environment has been tough for nickel companies, some stocks are still thriving.
Supply is expected to outflank demand over the short term, but the longer-term outlook for the metal is strong. Demand from the electric vehicle (EV) industry is one reason nickel’s outlook looks bright further into the future.
Battery nickel demand is poised to triple by 2030, according to Benchmark. “Mid and high level performance EVs will be the primary driver of battery nickel demand growth in the coming years, particularly in Western markets,” said Jorge Uzcategui, senior nickel analyst at Benchmark. “There will be growth in China, but it won’t be as pronounced as in ex-China markets.”
As for Canada, nickel is listed as a top priority in the government’s Critical Minerals Strategy. The country is the world’s fifth 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.
In February, Canada Nickel Company (TSXV:CNC,OTCQX:CNIKF) announced its subsidiary NetZero Metals is planning to develop a US$1 billion nickel-processing plant in Ontario that will become North America’s largest once complete.
How have Canadian nickel stocks performed in 2024? Below are the top nickel stocks in Canada on the TSXV and CSE by share price performance so far this year. TSX stocks were considered, but didn’t make the cut.
All year-to-date and share price data was obtained on December 13, 2024, using TradingView’s stock screener. The top nickel stocks in Canada listed had market caps above C$10 million at that time.
1. Class 1 Nickel and Technologies (CSE:NICO)
Year-to-date gain: 533.33 percent
Market cap: C$35.9 million
Share price: C$0.19
Class 1 Nickel and Technologies’ flagship property is its Alexo-Dundonald nickel project near Timmins, Ontario. The past-producing asset hosts four nickel sulfide deposits. The company’s pipeline also includes the past-producing Somanike nickel-copper project near Val-d’Or, Québec, and the River Valley platinum group metals (PGMs) project near Sudbury, Ontario.
Class 1 Nickel released resource estimate updates for the Alexo South and Alexo North deposits in April and May of this year, respectively. The company said it expects to start work on a preliminary economic assessment for Alexo-Dundonald in the near term as part of its plan to bring the asset back into production.
On October 3, Class 1 Nickel put out an updated resource estimate for the Dundonald South nickel deposit. In the indicated category, the company reported a 781 percent increase in metric tons of ore and a 474 percent increase in pounds of nickel.
The Canadian nickel exploration company’s share price started off the…