Signs Show Nickel Market Starting to Recover

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The price of nickel, a critical mineral around the world, is breaking out and heading much higher, purported Barry Dawes, executive chairman of Martin Place Securities, in a July 23 note. Demand is strong, and short covering is happening.

The spot nickel price rose 1.2% to US$15,500 per ton (US$15,500/ton) on July 23 due to a stronger U.S. dollar and mixed forecasts for the industrial metal, reported Economies.com that day. This compares to US$15,040/ton at the start of 2025 and the most recent peak of US$21,275/ton in late May 2024, noted a last month's issue of Stainless Steel World. (Nickel ended the week at US$15,265/ton.)

After a period of price volatility and oversupply, the global nickel market is showing signs of stabilization, Reporter Nick Elridge wrote in a July 23 Crux Investor article. What is more, the market seems to be reversing into a possible recovery from a long correction phase.

Various coinciding factors are supporting the shift, Elridge noted. Events, such as a notable rebound of lithium prices and a change in Chinese buying patterns, suggest a global restocking of the materials needed to manufacture lithium-ion batteries may be underway. This could boost demand for nickel, the second major use of which is for lithium-ion battery production, Stainless Steel World pointed out. Because the amount of the metal needed for these batteries is increasing, demand from this sector also is expected to grow in the ensuing years. (Nickel primarily is used in the production of stainless steel and other alloys.)

Governments helping fund critical minerals projects, as in the case in the U.S., is trending up, added Elridge. Because Indonesia is the world's largest nickel producer and much of the nickel mining and refining there is owned by Chinese firms, the supply chain remains tenuous. This underscores the need for diverse and secure sources.

Major miners are exiting the sector, which could kickstart projects. For example, BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP:NYSE; BHPLF:OTCPK) sold its 17% equity interest in the Kiabanga nickel project in Tanzania to LifeZone Metals Ltd. (LZM:NYSE). Further, investor interest in the mining sector is improving, albeit slowly.

"Institutional investors are beginning to evaluate opportunities based on risk-return profiles that favor commodity investments over broader equity markets," Elridge wrote. "Mining company valuations remain at fractions of other sectors, creating potential value opportunities for long-term investors."

Mark Selby, chief executive officer of Canada Nickel, an explorer-developer, told Crux Investor that prices for mixed hydroxide precipitate, the primary product resulting from high-pressure acid-leaching operations, are close to all-time highs, Elridge reported. This suggests the market is robustly absorbing new supply. Selby noted, too, that a limited amount of nickel ore is available around the world, and the price trends for ore, nickel pig iron and stainless steel are bearing this out.

"The International Nickel Study Group's July 2025 statistics mark a subtle yet significant shift in nickel's macro narrative from structural surplus to tightening fundamentals, wrote Crux Investor reporter Ryan Charles on July 24. "This transition reflects the convergence of delayed supply additions, accelerating battery demand, and geopolitical supply concentration that collectively reshape investment calculus across the nickel complex."

Selby predicted that the nickel price will reach US$16,500/ton in H2/25 and possibly even break through US$18,000–20,000/ton by year-end. According to Economies.com, analysts also expect nickel prices to rebound in this half of the year due to ore shortages and due to mine closures by the government in Indonesia.

Here are two companies that stand to benefit from a nickel market resurgence and higher nickel prices:

Atlas Critical Minerals Corp.

Brazil-based Atlas Critical Minerals Corp. (JUPGF:OTCMKTS), a subsidiary of Atlas Lithium Corp. (ATLX:NASDAQ), controls 575,000 acres of mineral rights in the Latin American country. Along with nickel, these cover iron ore, natural graphite, rare earth elements, titanium, copper, uranium, quartzite, gold and diamonds, according to its website. The company has one producing and revenue-generating operation, a quartzite quarry, that achieved 35% margins in 2024.

Most recently, Atlas announced in a July 22 news release that upon metallurgical testing of the natural graphite ore from its Minas Gerais project in Brazil, up to 96.6% of graphite was recovered. Surface samples contained up to 15.4% of graphitic carbon.

The next potential stock-boosting even for Atlas is the start of production at its Rio Piracicaba project, for which permits are in hand for production of 300,000 tons of iron ore per annum.

About 40% of Atlas Critical Minerals is owned by insiders and management about 33% by strategic corporate entities, Refinitiv reported. The rest is retail.

Its market cap is ~US$33 million with 38.86 million shares outstanding. It trades in a 52-week range of US$0.40 and US$1.47.

Inomin Mines

Headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia (B.C.), Inomin Mines Inc. (MINE:TSX.V; IMC:FRA) identifies, acquires and explores mineral properties having the potential to host significant critical minerals, gold or silver. The company's flagship asset is its 28,000 hectare Beaver-Lynx project in southcentral B.C.

Most recently, the company's shareholders approved an earn-in agreement with Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. Ltd. (STMNF:OTCPK), affording it the right to earn up to an 80% interest in Beaver-Lynx, noted a news release. Earlier this year, Inomin expanded the project's land package by staking new claims and completed two airborne magnetic surveys to identify drill targets.

The explorer's other assets include the Pena Blanca and La Gitana gold-silver projects in Mexico and a 1% net smelter royalty on the King's Point gold-base metals project in Newfoundland.

Ron Struthers, in the June 30 edition of Struthers Resource Stock Report, highlighted the size of Beaver-Lynx, its location next to Taseko Mines Ltd.'s (TKO:TSX; TGB:NYSE.MKT) Gibraltar copper mine, its robust infrastructure and good drill results. With the recent bear market for junior miners, Inomin's share price fell to CA$0.03–0.04 where it traded for the past year, Struthers wrote but added he expects a reversal soon.

"I think action in the stock will soon pick up again," he wrote. "The stock has formed a wedge pattern with a triple bottom around CA$0.025. A break above $0.06, a higher high, is to watch for." (This break point reflects a 50% return from the stock's share price as of market close on July 25.)

Next for Inomin and Beaver-Lynx, a CA$1.7M phase one exploration work program, to include 3,850 meters of drilling, is expected to commence there this summer, reported Struthers.

According to Refinitiv, three insiders own 6.25% of Inomin. They are President and CEO John Gomez with 4.5%, Director John Peters with 1.1% and Corporate Secretary and Director Ari Shack with 0.65%. The rest is in retail. There are no institutional investors at this time.

Inomin has 49.02M shares outstanding and 45.95M free float traded shares. Its market cap is CA$1.44M. Its 52-week range is CA$0.02–0.06 per share.