1. Power Metallic Mines (TSXV:PNPN)

Year-to-date gain: 40.37 percent
Market cap: C$364.15 million
Share price: C$1.53

Power Metallic Mines, formerly Power Nickel, is developing its 80 percent owned Nisk polymetallic property in Québec, Canada, which hosts high-grade nickel, copper, platinum, palladium, gold and silver mineralization. The polymetallic nature of the project is a plus for the economic case for future nickel production in a low price environment.

The company was recognized as one of the 2024 top 50 performers on the TSX Venture Exchange, ranking as the top mining company and fourth overall company due to posting a 365 percent share price appreciation for the year.

Ongoing work at the Nisk project has generated positive news flow for Power Metallic in 2025. After starting the year at C$1.07, Power Metallic’s share price climbed to C$1.49 by January 30 following two key announcements in late January. First, the company released drill results from the 2024 fall campaign on Nisk’s Lion zone and the start of its winter 2025 drill campaign. Shortly after, it announced a new discovery 700 meters east from the Lion zone, now named the Tiger zone, which it plans to target as part of its winter drilling.

From there, Power Metallic’s share price jumped more than 26 percent to reach C$1.88 on February 6, its highest point of Q1. This followed further drill results out its 2024 fall campaign with with notable assays further demonstrating the high-grade nature of the mineralization.

Other notable news supporting the company’s share price this quarter included the closing of a C$50 million private placement and the plan to scale up its 2025 winter drill campaign from three to six rigs in the second quarter. Additionally, further results from the 2024 fall campaign expanded the Lion zone with the deepest assayed intersection to date, plus initial nickel-copper assays from the new Tiger zone.

2. Magna Mining (TSXV:NICU)

Year-to-date gain: 25.93 percent
Market cap: C$273.59 million
Share price: C$1.70

Magna Mining is a base metal exploration and development company based in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. The company’s flagship assets are the Shakespeare mine and the Crean Hill project. Shakespeare is a past-producing nickel, copper and platinum group metals mine with major permits in place. It hosts an indicated open-pit resource of 16.51 million metric tons at 0.56 percent nickel equivalent. Crean Hill also hosts a past-producing mine that produced the same resources.

Magna Mining was also included in the 2025 TSX Venture 50 list.

Last year, Magna signed a definitive offtake agreement with Vale Base Metals’ wholly owned subsidiary Vale Canada for the advanced exploration portion of Crean Hill, and inked a toll-milling agreement with Glencore Canada for the surface bulk sample of the 109 Footwall zone at Crean Hill. Magna completed an updated preliminary economic assessment at Crean Hill in November.

Magna’s share price started off the year at C$1.42, and gradually climbed throughout the following weeks to reach a year-to-date high of C$1.84 on February 5.

Its share price was supported by continued positive updates on its acquisition of a portfolio of base metals assets located in the Sudbury Basin, including the producing McCreedy West copper-nickel mine, through a share purchase agreement with a subsidiary of KGHM Polska Miedz (FWB:KGHA). The company completed the acquisition at the end of February.

Magna also closed a C$33.5 million private placement in early March.

3. Talon Metals (TSX:TLO)

Year-to-date gain: 23.53 percent
Market cap: C$79.45 million
Share price: C$0.105

Talon Metals is focused on developing high-grade nickel resources for the US domestic battery supply chain. The company has partnered with mining giant Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO,NYSE:RIO,LSE:RIO) on the Tamarack nickel-copper project located in Minnesota, US. Talon has an earn-in right to acquire up to 60 percent of Tamarack and currently owns 51 percent. The US Department of Defense awarded Talon a US$20.6 million grant in September 2023.

An environmental review process is underway for the proposed Tamarack underground mine. The company plans to process ore from the mine at a proposed battery mineral processing facility in North Dakota. The company plans to initiate the permitting process for the processing facility in 2025.

Talon has a six year offtake agreement with Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) for a total of 75,000 metric tons, or 165 million pounds, of nickel concentrate, as well as cobalt and iron by-products, from the Tamarack project once it’s in commercial production.

The company is also the operator of the Boulderdash nickel-copper discovery and numerous high-grade nickel-copper prospects in Michigan, which it optioned to Lundin Mining (TSX:LUN) in early March.

Talon Metal’s share price reached a year-to-date high of C$0.105 on March 26. That day, the company announced a significant massive sulfide discovery at Tamarack with an intercept measuring over 8.25 meters logged as 95 percent sulfide content.

4. Stillwater Critical Minerals (TSXV:PGE)

Year-to-date gain: 16.67 percent
Market cap: C$32.61 million
Share price: C$0.14

Stillwater Critical Metals’ flagship asset is its Stillwater West polymetallic project in Montana, US. In addition to the platinum group elements, copper, cobalt, and gold resources identified on the property, a January 2023 NI 43-101 inferred mineral resource estimate on Stillwater West shows it to have the largest nickel resource in an active US mining district.

Stillwater Critical Metal’s share price reached a year-to-date high of C$0.14 on March 26.

On this day, the company reported multiple large-scale magmatic sulfide targets following analysis of the property-wide third-party MobileMtm magneto-telluric geophysical survey completed in late 2024.

The data from the survey was also used to build a new 3D geological model of the lower Stillwater Igneous Complex that will help the company to further prioritize targets at Stillwater West in an upcoming planned drill campaign.

5. First Atlantic Nickel (TSXV:FAN)

Year-to-date gain: 15.22 percent
Market cap: C$25.22 million
Share price: C$0.265

First Atlantic Nickel is developing its wholly owned Atlantic nickel project in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The large-scale project hosts a naturally occurring nickel-iron alloy that contains about 75 percent nickel with no sulfur or sulfides. Known as awaruite, it is known for its strong magnetic properties. Its also easier and cleaner to separate and concentrate than conventional nickel ores as it can be processed without a smelter.

A series of catalysts in February gave the company’s stock value a boost to the upside. On February 19, it shared that drilling confirmed ‘the RPM zone extends 400 meters along strike and 500 meters wide, remaining open at depth and along strike to the north and west, indicating significant expansion potential.’

Initial Phase 1 assay results from the Super Gulp zone were released on February 26 showing up to 0.32 percent nickel with an average of 0.25 percent nickel over the entire 293.8 meter length. First Atlantic Nickel stated the results confirmed ‘the presence of a major new nickel zone.’ That same day, shares in First Atlantic surged to C$0.33.

The next month, on March 4, First Atlantic reported a new discovery at the RPM zone with intersects of 0.24 percent nickel over 383.1 meters, and 10 kilometers downstrike from Super Gulp.

First Atlantic shares reached their highest year-to-date value of C$0.35 on March 13 after the company announced initial metallurgical test results from the first drill hole at the RPM zone. The company said “the results confirm the potential for magnetic separation as a viable processing method for awaruite nickel mineralization previously identified at the RPM Zone.”

FAQs for nickel investing

Bitcoin and Ethereum price update

At the time of this writing, Bitcoin (BTC) had recovered to US$83,879.15, up 2.3 percent in 24 hours. The day’s range has brought a low of US$81,950.04 and a high of US$84,497.52.

Bitcoin performance, April 4, 2025.

Chart via TradingView.

The crypto market staged an apparent recovery by the end of Friday’s trading session. US President Donald Trump’s announcement of new global tariffs has unsettled financial markets, as reflected in risk assets.

Ethereum (ETH) is priced at US$1,808.88, a 1.3 percent increase over 24 hours. The cryptocurrency reached an intraday low of US$1,772.16 and a high of US$1,823.14.

Altcoin price update

• Solana (SOL) is currently valued at US$122.36, up 6.2 percent over the past 24 hours. SOL experienced a low of US$114.16 and a high of US$123.31 on Friday.

• XRP is trading at US$2.12, reflecting a 3.5 percent increase over the past 24 hours. The cryptocurrency recorded an intraday low of US$2.04 and a high of US$2.15.

• Sui (SUI) is priced at US$2.27, showing a 2.4 percent increase over the past 24 hours. It achieved a daily low of US$2.18 and a high of US$2.30.

• Cardano (ADA) is trading at US$0.6606, reflecting a 3.5 percent increase over the past 24 hours. Its lowest price on Friday was US$0.6667, with a high of US$0.6325.

Crypto news to know

Trumps tap crypto after Trump Organization’s ‘cancellation’

Eric Trump has revealed to CNBC that his family’s business pivoted toward the cryptocurrency sector following what he describes as ‘unprecedented financial deplatforming.’

After the Trump Organization faced legal scrutiny and banking restrictions — including the closure of over 300 accounts by Capital One Financial (NYSE:COF) — the Trump brothers decided to turn to digital assets.

This led to the creation of World Liberty Financial, a US dollar-backed stablecoin venture, and American Bitcoin, a new Bitcoin-mining company co-founded with Hut 8 (NASDAQ:HUT) CEO Asher Genoot.

According to Eric Trump, the shift to crypto was as much about financial opportunity as it was about resistance.

He claims that during what he calls a ‘war on the industry,’ major banks were shutting down accounts simply for holding Bitcoin, and regulatory agencies were targeting crypto firms through aggressive lawsuits.

Now, with Donald Trump back in the White House, the US has taken a more crypto-friendly stance, including signing an executive order to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve and pardoning Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht.

Atkins moves closer to SEC chair position

US lawmakers in the Senate Committee on Banking voted to advance Paul Atkins as chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Thursday (April 3) through a final vote of 13 to 11.

If approved, Atkins will take over for Gary Gensler, who resigned as chair on January 20. Gensler’s term ends in June 2026, after which Atkins will serve a second consecutive term that will terminate in 2031.

Atkins’ nomination will now move to a full Senate vote on a yet-to-be-determined date. Experts predict a likely confirmation. Interim Chair Mark Uyeda is currently sitting in the role.

Coinbase files for XRP futures contracts

Crypto exchange Coinbase Global (NASDAQ:COIN) filed on Thursday with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to launch futures contracts tracking Ripple’s token, XRP.

“We’re excited to announce that Coinbase Derivatives has filed with the CFTC to self-certify XRP futures — bringing a regulated, capital-efficient way to gain exposure to one of the most liquid digital assets,” Coinbase said in an X post that day, adding that it anticipates that the contract will go live on April 21.

Monthly-settled, margined contracts will trade under the symbol XRP. Each contract will represent 10,000 XRP, worth about US$20,000 at the current value. Trading will halt if the spot XRP price deviates over 10 percent in an hour.

In other news, Grayscale filed an S-1 application with the SEC on Friday to convert its Grayscale Solana Trust into a spot SOL exchange-traded fund trading under the ticker symbol GSOL.

Circle, Klarna and Chime may delay IPOs

A Friday report from the Wall Street Journal suggests that stablecoin firm Circle may delay its initial public offering (IPO). The event was originally slated for April 11, according to the firm’s S-1 filing.

“Circle had been nearing its next steps in going public but is now watching anxiously before deciding what to do,” the news outlet’s report reads, before suggesting that fintech companies Klarna and Chime may also postpone their IPOs amid ongoing market turmoil triggered by the unfolding global trade war.

Bullet briefing — Tariffs rock global markets

Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’

There’s still much uncertainty surrounding tariffs, but here’s what we know at this point.

After declaring a national economic emergency, Trump has put tariffs of at least 10 percent on all countries. Higher tariffs have been levied on about 60 nations that have large trade deficits with the US and have been deemed the ‘worst offenders.’

While Trump has called the tariffs reciprocal, that’s not exactly how they’ve panned out.

A tariff calculation formula published by the White House indicates that the math involves taking the trade deficit for the US in goods with a particular country, dividing that by the total goods imports from that country and then dividing that number by two. A BBC explainer shows how the formula works for the EU, where the US has instated a 20 percent tariff based on what it believes the EU charges.

The situation is more complex for countries like China, which already had a 20 percent tariff in place from the US. Trump has now added a further 34 percent tariff, bringing China’s total rate to 54 percent. Canada and Mexico, which have also already faced tariffs from the US, avoided further charges this week.

Gold, copper excluded from tariffs

While Trump’s new tariffs are sweeping in nature, there are exclusions — among them are steel, aluminum, copper, pharmaceuticals and semiconductors, as well as bullion, which includes gold, plus ‘energy and other certain minerals’ not available in the US.

The news that gold won’t face levies is reportedly cooling its flow from London to New York. In recent months, traders have been rushing to bring the metal into the US ahead of potential tariffs; with this week’s clarity, the transfers no longer appear necessary.

A Section 232 investigation into copper tariffs is ongoing.

Will tariffs cause inflation?

Trump has referred to Wednesday as ‘Liberation Day,’ saying that tariffs will help reinvigorate the US manufacturing industry and help the country grow.

‘Jobs and factories will come roaring back into our country, and you see it happening already. We will supercharge our domestic industrial base. We will pry open foreign markets and break down foreign trade barriers, and ultimately, more production at home will mean stronger competition and lower prices for consumers’ — Trump

However, there are widespread concerns that the tariffs will boost inflation in the US, putting pressure on Americans who are already struggling with high prices.

Let’s take a look at it from both angles.

Keith Weiner of Monetary Metals noted that while he doesn’t define inflation as an increase in consumer prices, that’s the standard definition. In his view, tariffs could boost consumer prices in several ways:

If inflation is defined as an increase in consumer prices, and you’ve forced them to manufacture in a high-cost jurisdiction with much higher regulatory costs, and then deport a lot of labor to drive up the price of labor even more, then you’re going to find consumer prices have a one-two punch.

The third punch is — what is everybody’s solution from a monetary policy perspective to so-called inflation? Hiking interest rates. Which means hike the cost of financing new factories, and hike the cost of automation … Every company when faced with massively increased demand for labor and massively higher labor (costs) is going to want to automate. Well, the cost of financing the automation is going to be hiked. So we’re going to see a one-two-three punch for the forces pushing up consumer prices.

Jim Thorne of Wellington-Altus took a different approach to the question. He explained the relationship between tariffs and inflation as follows:

Tariffs slow growth — one. So that’s why we’ve been talking about a growth scare. We’ll have a balance sheet recession in Canada, we will have a slow growth period in the US.

What tariffs do is they change the relative prices in an economy, they don’t change the general price level. And so no, they’re not inflationary. And Tiff Macklem knows that, and Jay Powell knows that, because that’s third year macro.

Click the links above to watch the full interviews with Weiner and Thorne.

CleanTech Lithium PLC (AIM: CTL), a lithium exploration and development company operating in Chile, further to its announcement on 15 January 2025 (‘Application RNS’), provides an update regarding the Special Lithium Operating Contract (‘CEOL’) application process for the Laguna Verde project.

As outlined in the Application RNS, the Company expected the simplified procedure for the CEOL Award Mechanism to be as follows: Submission of applications closed on 31 January 2025 following which the Ministry IT and legal departments had 5 business days to register and organise the submittal. The Ministry´s Lithium and Salar Unit then has 45 business days to review and analyse the request. Once this analysis is completed and the Lithium and Salar Unit verifies that all the information and documents needed to enter the simplified procedure have been submitted then an administrative act to accept the application will be made.

This timetable indicated that an update from the Government was expected at the beginning of April confirming which applicants will enter direct negotiation on the CEOL with the Ministry. So far, no such update has been made and following recent discussions between CleanTech Lithium and the Ministry, the Company understands that the administration process is still progressing for all applicants. The Company will inform the market as soon as official communication is received.

Steve Kesler, Executive Chairman and Interim CEO, CleanTech Lithium said:

‘Clearly, the process is taking a little longer than we had initially anticipated but we look forward to the response when the Ministry has completed its review process.’

Beaumont Cornish Limited (‘Beaumont Cornish’) is the Company’s Nominated Adviser and is authorised and regulated by the FCA. Beaumont Cornish’s responsibilities as the Company’s Nominated Adviser, including a responsibility to advise and guide the Company on its responsibilities under the AIM Rules for Companies and AIM Rules for Nominated Advisers, are owed solely to the London Stock Exchange. Beaumont Cornish is not acting for and will not be responsible to any other persons for providing protections afforded to customers of Beaumont Cornish nor for advising them in relation to the proposed arrangements described in this announcement or any matter referred to in it.

Notes

CleanTech Lithium (AIM:CTL) is an exploration and development company advancing lithium projects in Chile for the clean energy transition. Committed to net-zero, CleanTech Lithium’s mission is to scale battery grade lithium at its flagship project, Laguna Verde, using Direct Lithium Extraction technology powered by renewable energy.

CleanTech Lithium is committed to utilising Direct Lithium Extraction (‘DLE’) with reinjection of spent brine resulting in no aquifer depletion. Direct Lithium Extraction is a transformative technology which removes lithium from brine with higher recoveries, short development lead times and no extensive evaporation pond construction. For more information, please visit: www.ctlithium.com

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3. Delta Lithium (ASX:DLI)

Year-to-date gain: 9.09 percent
Market cap: AU$125.39 million
Share price: AU$0.18

Delta Lithium is a diversified exploration and development company focused on discovering high quality, lithium bearing pegmatite deposits in Western Australia.

Currently, Delta is developing the Mount Ida gold and lithium project, which reportedly has a JORC-compliant resource of 14.6 million MT grading 1.2 percent. Additionally, the company is exploring its Yinnetharra lithium project, including the Malinda deposit, in the Upper Gascoyne Region.

Company shares registered a Q1 high of AU$0.20 on January 14.

On January 21, Delta released an exploration update for Yinnetharra that highlighted drilling and metallurgical results from the M1 pegmatite at the Malinda deposit.

“The program has realised highly positive metallurgical results, with pilot plant spodumene recoveries exceeding our Internal financial modelling and proving the whole-of-ore flotation flowsheet as suitable for the M1 mineralogy,” Managing Director James Croser said.

In a subsequent financial statement, Delta noted the submission of the mining lease application for the Malinda mining area and the commencement of Native Title negotiations. The company is also advancing its environmental permitting process at Malinda.

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FAQs for investing in lithium