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Best Mining Stocks to Buy Now (2026)

Top mining stocks in 2026 ranked by overall Zen Rating. "A" Rated stocks have returned an average of +28.50% per year, and are the best mining stocks to buy now. Learn More.

According to Zen Ratings, our proprietary rating system that evaluates 115 factors proven to drive growth in stocks and assigns each stock in our system an overall letter grade as well as 7 individual Component Grades for Value, Growth, Momentum, Sentiment, Safety, Financials, and proprietary AI algorithms, the 3 best mining stocks to buy right now are:

Materion (NYSE:MTRN) is the #1 top mining stock out of 52 with a Zen Rating of B. Stocks with a rating of B have had an average return of +17.17% per year. Learn more.

The Component Grade breakdown for Materion (NYSE:MTRN) is: Value: C, Growth: B, Momentum: B, Sentiment: B, Safety: C, Financials: C, and AI: B.

Materion (NYSE:MTRN) has a Due Diligence Score of 44, which is 21 points higher than the mining industry average of 23.

MTRN passed 17 out of 38 due diligence checks and has strong fundamentals. Materion has seen its stock return 111.66% over the past year, overperforming other mining stocks by 56 percentage points.

Materion has an average 1 year price target of $182.33, a downside of -21.39% from Materion's current stock price of $231.96.

Materion stock has a consensus Strong Buy recommendation according to Wall Street analysts. Of the 3 analysts covering Materion, 66.67% have issued a Strong Buy rating, 33.33% have issued a Buy, 0% have issued a hold, while 0% have issued a Sell rating, and 0% have issued a Strong Sell.

Nexa Resources Sa (NYSE:NEXA) is the #2 top mining stock out of 52 with a Zen Rating of B. Stocks with a rating of B have had an average return of +17.17% per year. Learn more.

The Component Grade breakdown for Nexa Resources Sa (NYSE:NEXA) is: Value: A, Growth: C, Momentum: A, Sentiment: D, Safety: C, Financials: C, and AI: A.

Nexa Resources Sa (NYSE:NEXA) has a Due Diligence Score of 33, which is 10 points higher than the mining industry average of 23.

NEXA passed 13 out of 38 due diligence checks and has average fundamentals. Nexa Resources Sa has seen its stock return 214.29% over the past year, overperforming other mining stocks by 159 percentage points.

Nexa Resources Sa has an average 1 year price target of $14.40, a downside of -6.49% from Nexa Resources Sa's current stock price of $15.40.

Nexa Resources Sa stock has a consensus Hold recommendation according to Wall Street analysts. Of the 5 analysts covering Nexa Resources Sa, 0% have issued a Strong Buy rating, 0% have issued a Buy, 80% have issued a hold, while 20% have issued a Sell rating, and 0% have issued a Strong Sell.

Teck Resources (NYSE:TECK) is the #3 top mining stock out of 52 with a Zen Rating of B. Stocks with a rating of B have had an average return of +17.17% per year. Learn more.

The Component Grade breakdown for Teck Resources (NYSE:TECK) is: Value: C, Growth: C, Momentum: A, Sentiment: C, Safety: C, Financials: C, and AI: B.

Teck Resources (NYSE:TECK) has a Due Diligence Score of 37, which is 14 points higher than the mining industry average of 23.

TECK passed 14 out of 38 due diligence checks and has average fundamentals. Teck Resources has seen its stock return 117.88% over the past year, overperforming other mining stocks by 62 percentage points.

Teck Resources has an average 1 year price target of $60.67, a downside of -12.33% from Teck Resources's current stock price of $69.20.

Teck Resources stock has a consensus Strong Buy recommendation according to Wall Street analysts. Of the 3 analysts covering Teck Resources, 66.67% have issued a Strong Buy rating, 0% have issued a Buy, 33.33% have issued a hold, while 0% have issued a Sell rating, and 0% have issued a Strong Sell.

Out of 7 mining stocks that have issued dividends in the past year, the 3 mining stocks with the highest dividend yields are:

Rio Tinto (NYSE:RIO) has an annual dividend yield of 4.42%, which is 3 percentage points higher than the mining industry average of 1.65%. Rio Tinto's dividend payout is not stable, having dropped more than 10% eleven times in the last 10 years. Rio Tinto's dividend has shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

Rio Tinto's dividend payout ratio of 60.8% indicates that its high dividend yield is sustainable for the long-term.

Vale Sa (NYSE:VALE) has an annual dividend yield of 2.74%, which is 1 percentage points higher than the mining industry average of 1.65%. Vale Sa's dividend payout is not stable, having dropped more than 10% seven times in the last 10 years. Vale Sa's dividend has shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

Vale Sa's dividend payout ratio of 206.1% indicates that its dividend yield might not be sustainable for the long-term.

Bhp Group (NYSE:BHP) has an annual dividend yield of 1.5%, which is the same as the mining industry average of 1.65%. Bhp Group's dividend payout is not stable, having dropped more than 10% seven times in the last 10 years. Bhp Group's dividend has shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

Bhp Group's dividend payout ratio of 68.3% indicates that its dividend yield is sustainable for the long-term.

Mining stocks were up 4.3% in the last day, and down -0.78% over the last week. Critical Metals was the among the top gainers in the other industrial metals & mining industry, gaining 22.59% yesterday.

Shares of critical metal companies are trading higher, possibly after the U.S. DOE recently selected seven projects to expand critical mineral and material processing, battery manufacturing and recycling capacity. This third round of funding aligns with President Trump's 'Unleashing American Energy' executive order that benefits critical metal and non-fuel mineral producers and processors.

Based on the Valuation rating, one of the 7 components of a stocks overall Zen Ratings grade, which evaluates factors including estimated earnings yield, earnings before interest and taxes/enterprise value, cash flow yield, free cash flow to price, and price-to-earnings growth (PEG ratio), the 3 most undervalued mining stocks right now are:

Nexa Resources Sa (NYSE:NEXA) is the most undervalued mining stock based on its Valuation Rating of A. Valuation is one of 7 Component Grades used to calculate the overall Zen Rating.

Nexa Resources Sa has a valuation score of 43, which is 34 points higher than the mining industry average of 9. It passed 3 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

Nexa Resources Sa's stock has gained 214.29% in the past year. It has overperformed other stocks in the mining industry by 159 percentage points.

Santacruz Silver Mining (NASDAQ:SCZM) is the second most undervalued mining stock based on its Valuation Rating of B. Valuation is one of 7 Component Grades used to calculate the overall Zen Rating.

Santacruz Silver Mining has a valuation score of 0, which is -9 points higher than the mining industry average of 9. It passed 0 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks. Although this number is below the industry average, our proven quant model rates SCZM a Valuation Rating of "B".

Vale Sa (NYSE:VALE) is the third most undervalued mining stock based on its Valuation Rating of B. Valuation is one of 7 Component Grades used to calculate the overall Zen Rating.

Vale Sa has a valuation score of 14, which is 5 points higher than the mining industry average of 9. It passed 1 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

Vale Sa's stock has gained 48.73% in the past year. It has underperformed other stocks in the mining industry by -7 percentage points.

52.63% of mining stocks rated by analysts are a strong buy right now. On average, analysts expect mining stocks to rise by 8.21% over the next year.

0% of mining stocks have a Zen Rating of A (Strong Buy), 10.87% of mining stocks are rated B (Buy), 41.3% are rated C (Hold), 32.61% are rated D (Sell), and 15.22% are rated F (Strong Sell).