Weekly Metals Mining Rundown for Week Ending 1 May 2026

Palladium, nickel, and lithium prices gained by +5%, +3.4%, and +2.4% respectively - possibly on anticipated rising personal vehicle demand (as Li and Ni are used in EV batteries and palladium is used in catalytic converters for ICE vehicles), while other metals traded largely flat to down slightly; This led to lithium producer stocks standing out mostly rising by +7% or more, while most miners of other metals traded down by 1-2% or more; Covered announcements include the acquisition of producing La Negra primary silver mine in Mexico by Silverco Mining.

Author

Host Rock Capital
May 02, 2026

This past week’s top & bottom metal price and mining company peer group movers include:

1 May 2026

This past week’s top 40 performing metals mining stocks (out of Peer Table’s 509) include (share price rounding errors apply, as sourced from Google Finance):

Covered mining company announcements incorporated into this week’s Peer Table (resource updates, economic studies, changes in project ownership):

  • Silver developer (and now also small-scale silver producer) Silverco Mining (TSXV:SICO) announced Monday (27 Apr) that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire private co Nuevo Silver Inc. for consideration of 16.8 million shares of SICO (worth ~C$168 million), plus US$17.5 million in combined milestone and contingency payments, while also assuming Nuevo’s debt of US$11 million. Nuevo acquired in 2026 and recently restarted the La Negra primary silver mine in Querétaro, Mexico. The mine has historic production dating back to the 1970s under Penoles Industries, and according to an old 2022 PEA had mineral resources (before recent minor depletion) of 8.88 Mt (28% indicated, rest inferred), with the indicated portion amounting to 2.46 Mt @ 64 g/t Ag, 1.95% Cu, 0.5% Cu, and 0.27% Pb, and with overall indicated + inferred contained silver-equivalent resources standing at 35 Moz @ 121 g/t AgEq at our 3-month trailing average metal pricing with no recovery factors – which are a SOLID two-thirds (67%) from silver, rest Zn and trace Cu/Pb. Not considering the future milestone and assumed debt payments (presumably to be covered by the La Negra’s cash flow), the share-based payment for this acquisition grows SICO’s basic shares outstanding by ~31% to ~53.3 million shares while growing its mineral resources by +55% to 97 Moz AgEq (including the company’s PEA-stage primary silver Cusi project also in Mexico – see note covering PEA: https://lnkd.in/eywpABei) – now 78% from Ag, 9% from Zn, rest Au/Cu/Pb. SICO stock SURPRISINGLY traded flat +0% on day of this announcement on also-surprisingly light volume (1/3 of daily average), before closing the week (ending 1 May) up +1% (vs. silver developer median performance of flat +0%) to C$9.80/sh, proforma market cap C$523 million, market cap/oz resource US$3.94/oz AgEq ($228/oz AuEq), and P/NAV (including both 2026 PEA for Cusi. and 2022 PEA for La Negra) of 0.65x at our reference silver price of US$50/oz – a narrow 15% premium to our 17-company silver developer group median 0.57x at same silver price. But now with this new La Negra mine, SICO is ALSO a small-scale silver PRODUCER, and so this P/NAV of 0.66x at reference silver pricing should rise to a ~1-2x once La Negra reaches full scale commercial production (and an even higher >2x once Cusi also comes online).

Disclaimer: Provided for informational and educational purposes on an ‘as-is’ basis, and is not investment advice. For full disclosures, visit www.hostrockcapital.com/disclosures.