Cobalt is used in a wide variety of industrial applications, with lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) and energy storage systems standing as the largest demand segment.
As an important battery metal, cobalt’s fate is tied to demand for lithium-ion batteries. The EV market may be facing headwinds now, but the long-term future for the electrification of transportation looks bright as governments around the world push for a green energy transition.
The four top cobalt-producing countries worldwide are the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Indonesia, Russia and Madagascar, with the DRC leading by a large margin.
Australia is getting attention in this space as an alternative to production coming out of the DRC. The country is home to the world’s second largest cobalt reserves, and ranks fifth in terms of production, tied with the Philippines.
After a period of depressed prices, the cobalt market has picked back up in the last year. In October 2025, the DRC implemented a new quota system for cobalt exports, which has reduced global supply of the battery metal. This caused significant price gains for cobalt in the last quarter of 2025 and into 2026, with the metal’s price on the London Metal Exchange gaining over 70 percent year-on-year as of August 5, 2026.
Additionally, cobalt exports from the DRC may come under further pressure after a study asserted, in late July, that shipments of cobalt concentrate from the country would have contained significant amounts of unreported uranium. The country has since promised to investigate the claims.
Cobalt is often produced as a by-product of other metals such as nickel, making primary cobalt stocks tough to find. However, with attention on battery metals remaining firm, many companies are highlighting their cobalt exposure, especially in Australia.
Read on for a look at the three top ASX cobalt stocks by share price performance over the last year.
Data was gathered on July 27, 2026, using TradingView’s stock screener, and all companies listed had market caps of at least AU$10 million at that time.
1. Havilah Resources (ASX:HAV)
Year-to-date gain: 39.32 percent
Market cap: AU$286.72 million
Share price: AU$0.815
Havilah Resources is a polymetallic exploration company advancing a pair of cobalt-containing projects in South Australia alongside strategic partners.
Its main focus has been on its Kalkaroo project, located approximately 100 kilometres northwest of Broken Hill, New South Wales. While it is being developed as a potential open-pit copper-gold mine, the company plans to produce a cobalt sulphate byproduct. The site hosts an inferred cobalt resource of 23,200 tonnes contained in 193.3 million tonnes of ore grading 120 parts per million cobalt, according to a March 2018 resource estimate.
On February 6, Havilah announced plans to advance Kalkaroo through a strategic partnership with Sandfire Resources (ASX:SFR,OTCPL:SFRRF) that will see Sandfire fund a new prefeasibility study and commit AU$30 million in regional exploration expenditures over 24 months. Under the definitive transaction, Sandfire can earn up to an 80 percent interest in the project in exchange for upfront considerations of AU$31.5 million cash and 4.64 million Sandfire shares.
The most recent project news came on July 21, when Havilah announced the start of a drilling program at the Brooks Dam prospect, located 12 kilometres northwest of Kalkaroo. Sandfire has also begun drilling at the Kalkaroo deposit itself, and is installing a core processing facility onsite. All of the exploration is being funded under the strategic alliance.
“Our first drill rig recently arrived onsite and we expect another six rigs to join over coming months as we undertake a large-scale infill and extension drilling program,” Sandfire wrote.
Mutooroo, Havilah’s other project with cobalt exposure, is located approximately 60 kilometres southwest of Broken Hill. According to a June 2020 resource summary, the project hosts a measured, indicated and inferred sulphide resource of 12.53 million tonnes of ore grading 0.16 percent cobalt for 20,000 tonnes of contained cobalt. It also hosts a measured oxide resource of 200 tonnes of cobalt from 598,000 tonnes grading 0.04 percent.
On May 21, Havilah announced it had similarly entered into a binding agreement with Hillgrove Resources (ASX:HGO) under which Hillgrove could earn up to an 80 percent interest in the Mutooroo project. The transaction is contingent on the renewal of the project’s exploration license and will see Hillgrove provide AU$5 million in ordinary shares as upfront consideration.
Additionally, Hillgrove will commit up to AU$10 million in exploration expenditures and fund a pre-feasibility study evaluating the use of Hillgrove’s Kanmantoo processing facility to process ore from Mutooroo. If the project reaches a final investment decision, the company can pay stage 2 considerations of AU$35 million in cash and shares to earn the interest.
Shares in Havilah reached a year-to-date high of AU$0.860 on July 22, the day after the Kalkaroo drilling update.
Year-to-date gain: 33.33 percent
Market cap: AU$51.78 million
Share price: AU$0.024
Australian Mines is an explorer with projects in Queensland and New South Wales, Australia, and in Brazil.
Its Sconi nickel-cobalt project in Queensland is being developed to deliver carbon-neutral feedstock for electric vehicle battery production. An updated feasibility study released in June 2019 demonstrated a post-tax net present value of AU$817 million, an internal rate of return of 15 percent and a payback period of 5.8 years.
The company originally targeted 2028 for the start of production at Sconi. However, it noted in its April 30 quarterly update that, due to the low nickel price environment, the project has largely been halted but remains in good standing.
In the meantime, Australian Mines has shifted its focus to other projects in its portfolio, including its Flemington scandium-nickel-cobalt project in New South Wales.
Australian Mines has been active at the project since the start of the year. The company released a scoping study for Flemington on April 28, followed by an amended version of the study on May 7 with additional information.
Using a base-case scandium oxide price of US$1,500 per kilogram, the scoping study makes an economic case with a post-tax net present value of US$270 million and an internal rate of return of 32 percent.
Although Flemington is primarily a scandium project, the included mineral resource estimate from January 2025 demonstrates a combined measured, indicated and inferred resource of 6.3 million tonnes of ore grading 601 parts per million cobalt.
On July 27, Australian Mines announced it was fast-tracking a pre-feasibility study to assess the potential to scale up the mine’s annual scandium oxide production to 180 tonnes, up considerably from the 60 tonnes evaluated in the scoping study.
Shares in Australian Mines received a large boost from scoping study’s release in late April, and reached a year-to-date high of AU$0.03 on May 4.
Year-to-date gain: 4.17 percent
Market cap: AU$15.73 million
Share price: AU$0.125
NiCo Resource is an exploration company focused on advancing its flagship Wingellina nickel-cobalt oxide project on the borders of Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory.
Both Wingellina and its Claude Hill project are part of its larger Central Musgrave project, which covers an area of 1,469 square kilometres.
An updated mineral resource estimate from August 2024 reported a total indicated and inferred resource of 106,000 tonnes of cobalt from 187.3 million tonnes of ore grading 0.06 percent cobalt. The resource also has a grade of 0.91 percent nickel for 1.7 million tonnes of nickel.
On May 4, the company announced it entered into a memorandum of understanding with Pure Battery Technologies to study the development of a regional nickel and cobalt refining platform in Australia, the US and Europe.
“Wingellina is one of Australia’s most significant undeveloped nickel-cobalt resources, and a strategic gap has been a credible route from intermediate to battery-grade product,” said Staffan Ever, CEO of Pure Battery Technologies. “PBT operates a refinery today and holds the technology to close that gap.”
According to the company’s June 2026 quarterly report, NiCo completed preparation work for an infill drilling program at Wingella, which is scheduled to start in September and will take place over several months.
The program is designed to increase technical knowledge of the ore body and upgrade the current indicated resource to the measured category. Additionally, samples from the program will be used for metallurgical testwork for future mine planning with the aim of optimizing recoverable metal product.
Shares in NiCo soared to start the year, reaching a year-to-date high of AU$0.350 on January 20, before slowly pulling back over the following months.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Dean Belder, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
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