Cobalt prices remained elevated through Q2 2025, holding strong after a sharp early-year rally triggered by the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) export ban on cobalt hydroxide.
Announced in February, the restriction quickly pushed standard-grade cobalt metal up 45 percent month-over-month to US$15.75 per pound, while cobalt sulfate prices spiked by 74 percent.
Prices held steady between US$15 and US$16 per pound through Q2, even as imports into China surged in April, fueled by material from Indonesia.
Yet, as Fastmarkets analyst Olivier Masson noted during the Lithium and Battery Raw Materials Conference in June, Indonesian output won’t be enough to offset the shortfall from the DRC, which extended its export ban into September.
After years of supply growth, with global mine output more than doubling since 2020, the second half of 2025 is expected to bring a slowdown, potentially tightening the market and supporting prices.
These tough market conditions in recent years have been reflected in the performance of cobalt-focused exploration and mining companies. However, cobalt is largely produced as a by-product of nickel and copper mining, and a number of polymetallic stocks that offer exposure to cobalt have been able to make gains in the current market.
Below, we look at the five top cobalt stocks on the TSX and TSXV by share price performance this year, including their operations and activities this year.
All year-to-date and share price information was obtained on August 12, 2025, using TradingView’s stock screener. Companies with market caps above C$10 million at that time were considered.
1. Talon Metals (TSX:TLO)
Year-to-date gain: 394.12 percentMarket cap: C$380.31 millionShare price: C$0.42
Talon Metals is a base metals company advancing the Tamarack nickel-copper-cobalt project in Central Minnesota, US, through a joint venture with Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO,NYSE:RIO,LSE:RIO). Talon currently holds a 51 percent stake in the project and can earn up to 60 percent.
In late March, Talon Metals announced a massive sulfide discovery at its Tamarack project, with an intercept measuring 8.25 meters containing 95 percent sulfide content located deeper than the current Tamarack resource.
A further massive sulfide discovery in May drove the company’s share price up significantly. The intercept was the thickest discovered at the site yet, measuring a total of 34.9 meters within a 47.33 meter interval starting at 762 meters depth. On June 5, Talon reported record assays from the intercept, with average grades of 57.76 percent copper equivalent or 28.88 percent nickel equivalent.
In mid-June, Talon closed a combined C$41 million in financing to advance work at Tamarack.
Shares of Talon rallied to a year-to-date high of C$0.41 on August 6 alongside results from a third hole at the discovery, which the company has named the Vault zone. It is now targeting the zone with two drill rigs.
Outside of Tamarack, Talon secured a site in North Dakota, US, for its planned Beulah minerals processing facility on May 28. The location is owned by Westmoreland Mining and previously hosted coal-mining operations. The facility will serve as a key hub for domestic processing of nickel and other critical minerals in the US. The company currently plans to begin construction in 2027.
2. Leading Edge Materials (TSXV:LEM)
Year-to-date gain: 77.78 percentMarket cap: C$37.15 millionShare price: C$0.16
Leading Edge Materials is developing a portfolio of critical materials projects in the European Union to supply materials for advanced technologies such as lithium-ion batteries and permanent magnets for EVs and wind power generation.
The company’s projects include its wholly owned Woxna graphite mine, the Norra Kärr heavy rare earth elements project in Sweden and the 51 percent owned Bihor Sud nickel-cobalt exploration alliance in Romania.
After starting the year at C$0.09, shares of Leading Edge Materials spiked dramatically in late February and stayed elevated through much of March, reaching a year-to-date high of C$0.30 on March 24.
The day before its peak, the company announced it is moving forward with its rapid development plan at the Norra Kärr project, aiming to fast-track production of heavy rare earth element concentrate and nepheline syenite.
The day after, however, shares fell when Leading Edge reported that Norra Kärr was not selected for the first list of strategic projects under the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act. Leading Edge plans to reapply when a new call for applications is announced, and stated it has made significant progress since its previous application in August 2024.
As for Leading Edge’s cobalt asset, the Bihor Sud nickel-cobalt project is a brownfield early-stage exploration project at which field work has identified strong potential for the discovery of a significant polymetallic deposit. The company says its goal at the project is ‘to define a large-scale, mineable mineral resource.’
According to its June 2025 presentation, exploration work planned for 2025 at Bihor Sud’s G2 gallery includes mapping and sampling of cobalt-nickel and zinc-lead-silver mineralized zones detected visually and by hand-held XRF. Drilling targeting polymetallic mineralization at the gallery is underway.
On the financial side, Leading Edge announced a C$400,000 non-brokered private placement in June.
3. Wheaton Precious Metals (TSX:WPM)
Year-to-date gain: 61.01 percentMarket cap: C$60.97 billionShare price: C$132.82
Wheaton Precious Metals is one of the largest gold and silver royalty and streaming companies. It has investments in 18 operating mines and 28 development projects across four continents, including a cobalt streaming agreement for Vale’s (NYSE:VALE) Voisey’s Bay nickel mine in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
The company reported its Q1 2025 financial results on May 8. The report highlighted a record US$470 million in revenue, US$254 million in net earnings and US$361 million in operating cash flow.
The cobalt segment registered year-over-year attributable production gains, rising to 540,000 pounds in Q1 2025, compared to 240,000 pounds during Q1 2024. Despite the output increase, sales from the same reporting fell to 265,000 pounds from 309,000 pounds in 2024.
According to Wheaton’s Q1 report, Voisey’s Bay is currently in a transitional phase, shifting from the depleted Ovoid open-pit to full underground production. Voisey’s Bay’s underground operations are ramping up, with full ramp-up anticipated for H2 2026.
Shares in Wheaton hit a year-to-date high of C$138.56 on August 7 coinciding with the company’s Q2 results.
4. FPX Nickel (TSXV:FPX)
Year-to-date gain: 10.64 percentMarket cap: C$80.28 millionShare price: C$0.26
FPX Nickel is currently advancing its Decar nickel district in British Columbia, Canada. The property comprises four key targets, with the Baptiste deposit being the primary focus, alongside the Van target. The company also has three other nickel projects in BC and one in the Yukon, Canada.
On February 24, FPX released results from a positive scoping study for the development of a refinery that would refine awaruite concentrate from the Baptiste deposit into battery-grade nickel sulfate and by-products of cobalt carbonate, copper and ammonium sulfate. Annual production was anticipated at 32,000 metric tons (MT) of contained nickel and 570 MT of contained cobalt.
The results showed that the process resulted in operating costs and all-in production costs near the bottom of nickel sulfate cost curves, in part due to the by-product credits. Additionally, the carbon intensity of the awaruite refinery is significantly lower than that of currently used production methods. FPX formally published the study at the end of March.
Shares of FPX reached a year-to-date high of C$0.28 on March 7.
In June, the company successfully produced a larger run of battery-grade nickel sulfate crystals from Baptiste awaruite concentrate using the same process as the scoping study. FPX plans to share the samples with potential downstream partners, including battery and EV manufacturers.
On July 7, FPX announced it received a multi-year area-based permit from the BC government, a crucial step in the renewal of drilling and exploration activities at the Baptiste project. The company stated it has commenced drilling, with targets supporting its feasibility study and the start of its environmental assessment process.
5. Nickel 28 Capital (TSXV:NKL)
Year-to-date gain: 2.82 percentMarket cap: C$59.84 millionShare price: C$0.73
Nickel 28 Capital is a battery metals company with an 8.56 percent interest in the producing Ramu nickel-cobalt mine in Papua New Guinea. It also holds a portfolio of 10 nickel and cobalt royalties on development and exploration projects across Canada, Australia and Papua New Guinea.
Shares of Nickel 28 registered a year-to-date high of C$0.86 on January 20 and again on February 6.
On February 3, the company released its Q4 and full year 2024 results, reporting lower production year-over-year due to a planned plant shutdown in September and October.
According to the data, total cobalt production at the Ramu operation fell year-over-year in 2024, with output reaching 549 MT in Q4 and 2,625 MT for the full year, down from 706 MT and 3,072 MT respectively in 2023.
Sales also declined, totaling 488 MT in Q4 and 2,793 MT for the year, compared to 755 MT and 3,086 MT in the prior year. Average cobalt prices were also down during the period, dropping 34 percent year-over-year in Q4 to US$9.95 per pound and finishing 2024 at an annual average of US$11.26 per pound, a 29 percent decrease from 2023.
The Ramu operation also experienced a short-term production setback following a mechanical failure in one of the acid plant’s blowers in December. On February 20, Nickel 28 announced that repairs were complete and the plant was back at full capacity.
On August 11, Nickel 28 released its Q2 2025 results, noting Ramu delivered stronger cobalt output with record weekly production rates at the beginning of the quarter. The operation produced 787 MT of contained cobalt in Q2, up from 675 MT a year earlier.
Cobalt sales also rose, totaling 719 MT compared to 684 MT in the same period of 2024. While average cobalt prices climbed 18 percent year-on-year to US$15.23 per pound, nickel prices slipped 18 percent to US$6.88 per pound, though lower production costs helped offset the weaker nickel market.
FAQs for cobalt
What is cobalt?
Cobalt is a silver-gray metal that is often produced as a by-product of nickel and copper mining. It does not occur as a separate metal anywhere in the world, and must be produced by reductive smelting, or from the metallic ore cobaltite, which is made of cobalt, sulfur and arsenic.
What is cobalt used for?
Historically, cobalt oxides were used to impart a blue pigment to glass, porcelain and paints, hence the still-used cobalt blue paint. The metal is also used to produce superalloys, as cobalt imparts qualities such as corrosion and wear resistance, which are useful in applications such as airplanes, orthopedics and prosthetics.
Today cobalt is most famously used in the rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that run everything from smartphones to EVs.
Where is cobalt mined?
The majority of cobalt production comes out of the DRC, which was responsible for producing 220,000 metric tons of the material in 2024. For perspective, the second largest cobalt-producing country, Indonesia, reported output of 28,000 MT the same year; third place Russia produced 8,700 MT of the material.
As the lithium-ion battery and EV supply chains garner global attention, companies are trying to limit their exposure to cobalt produced from the DRC, which is known for human rights abuses and sometimes child labor in its mining industry.
In response to this trend, many countries with cobalt are attempting to create domestic cobalt and EV supply chains in the hope of attracting companies looking to avoid DRC-sourced cobalt. This can be seen in the up-and-coming battery corridor in Ontario, Canada, as well as in the US-based Idaho cobalt belt.
Securities Disclosure: I, Georgia Williams, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
