Investor Insight

With a disciplined exploration strategy and a high-grade discovery focus, FinEx Metals is poised to become one of the most compelling new gold exploration companies in Europe. The company is led by a technically experienced and locally embedded team, backed by a tight share structure and strategic investor alignment.

Overview

FinEx Metals (TSXV:FINX) is an exploration-stage company focused on discovering Finland’s next high-grade gold deposit. Backed by NewQuest Capital Group, FinEx is strategically positioned near Europe’s largest gold mine, the Agnico Eagle’s Kittilä Mine, and sits within one of the most prospective but underexplored terrains globally – the Central Lapland Greenstone Belt.

FinEx has defined a 2.7-kilometer-long anomalous gold zone through a combination of trenching, rock sampling, and top-of-bedrock (ToB) drilling. The ToB campaign yielded 29 samples with assays ranging from 0.1 to 4.2 grams per ton (g/t) gold and revealed broad pathfinder anomalies in tellurium, bismuth, silver and arsenic, highlighting a robust geochemical footprint consistent with orogenic gold systems.

Additionally, 263 grab samples were collected from trench exposures, 52 of which returned values above 1 g/t gold, including 19 samples exceeding 10 g/t gold. The highest grade recorded to date is 95.1 g/t gold from a quartz-carbonate vein system, located within a zone extending over 250 meters. Ruoppa is fully permitted and drill-ready, with the maiden core drilling campaign scheduled to begin in August 2025. With an experienced local team, high-grade mineralization and proximity to active operations, FinEx offers a unique opportunity to invest in an early-stage gold explorer positioned for rapid value creation.

Company Highlights

• High-grade Gold Focus in a Tier-one Address: Flagship Ruoppa project lies within 17 km of Agnico Eagle’s Kittilä Mine, the largest gold-producing mine in Europe.
• Large, 100 percent Owned Land Package: FinEx controls a 100 percent owned, royalty-free portfolio of projects across the Central and Eastern Lapland greenstone belts.
• Drill-ready Flagship Asset: The Ruoppa project is fully permitted and will commence its maiden diamond drill program in Q3 2025.
• Exceptional Gold Grades: Rock grab samples from Ruoppa returned up to 95.1 g/t gold, with 52 samples over 1 g/t gold and 19 samples exceeding 10 g/t gold.
• Strong Local Technical Team: Deep exploration experience in Finland with former Agnico Eagle, FQM and Anglo-American personnel leading geological efforts.

Flagship Project

Ruoppa Gold Project

The Ruoppa project is FinEx Metals’ flagship exploration asset, situated approximately 17 kilometers from Agnico Eagle’s Kittilä Mine, the largest primary gold producer in Europe. Located within Finland’s Central Lapland Greenstone Belt (CLGB), Ruoppa lies on the same structural and geological trend that hosts other major gold systems like Rupert Resources’ Ikkari discovery. The project is fully permitted and drill-ready, with a maiden diamond drill program scheduled to commence in Q3 2025.

The anomalous gold zone identified at Ruoppa extends over 2.7 kilometers and remains open in all directions. Ten trenches totaling 641 meters have been excavated across the highest-priority geophysical and geochemical anomalies, confirming both the lateral continuity and high-grade potential of the gold-bearing structures. This robust dataset has defined a compelling sulphide-rich gold target at depth, which will be tested during the upcoming diamond drill program.

Notably, the project will see its first-ever diamond drilling in Q3 2025. Ruoppa benefits from excellent access to infrastructure, including all-season roads, grid power and 5G connectivity.

Over the past four years, FinEx has conducted extensive early-stage exploration, including ToB drilling, trenching and rock sampling. A total of 263 rock grab samples have been collected from trench exposures, with 52 samples returning assays greater than 1 g/t gold and 19 samples exceeding 10 g/t gold. The highest recorded sample yielded 95.1 g/t gold, hosted in quartz-carbonate vein systems. ToB drilling, an efficient shallow drilling method ideal for glacially covered terrains, revealed additional gold potential with assays up to 4.2 g/t gold and strong pathfinder element anomalies in tellurium, bismuth, silver and arsenic.

Additional Projects

Luova Gold Project

The Luova project is located within the thickest core portion of the CLGB, less than 10 kilometers from the Kittilä Mine and adjacent to key exploration prospects such as Hanhimaa and Hakokodanmaa. This underexplored project shows all the hallmarks of a classic orogenic gold system, including thick sequences of Fe-tholeiitic basalts, large-scale shear zones acting as fluid conduits, and favorable trap rocks such as graphitic tuffs and banded iron formations.

Historical base-of-till sampling conducted by Outokumpu and Agnico Eagle revealed anomalous gold and copper values, including results up to 0.38 g/t gold and 0.49 percent copper. Despite these encouraging results, the Luova project remains undrilled, representing a significant near-surface gold discovery opportunity. Ionic leach soil samples and detailed magnetic surveys are planned to refine drill targets, with a focus on zones where interpreted thrust faults intersect favorable host rocks.

Kero Gold Project

The Kero project, explored in the early 2000s by the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK), is another advanced gold target in FinEx’s portfolio. GTK completed an extensive dataset that includes 7.7 kilometers of diamond drilling, trenching, bedrock mapping and multiple geophysical surveys (including IP, VLF-R and ground magnetics). Historic drill intercepts at Kero include 1.05 meters at 12.6 g/t gold and 3.3 meters at 2.3 g/t gold, while surface grab samples returned up to 25.6 g/t gold from carbonate-sulphide veins.

The gold mineralization is associated with hydrothermal alteration and complex structural settings, including fold hinges and lithological contacts. A 1.2-kilometer-long gold anomaly has been defined, and the structural complexity – characterized by multiple deformation orientations – indicates strong potential for structurally controlled high-grade zones. Kero is accessible year-round via gravel roads and is a strong candidate for follow-up trenching and re-logging of the historical core.

Tulppio Ni-PGE Project

Located in the Eastern Lapland Granite-Greenstone Belt, the Tulppio project represents FinEx’s entry into critical mineral exploration, specifically targeting nickel sulphides and platinum group elements (PGE). The project is positioned adjacent to the Sokli project, a world-class phosphate, iron and REE deposit operated by Finnish Minerals Group. Tulppio contains a large (5 km x 2 km) ultramafic intrusive complex, with a gravity signature suggesting the body extends to 2 kilometers in depth.

Historic shallow drilling (less than 100 meters depth) has already intercepted 3 meters at 1.12 g/t platinum+palladium and 0.49 percent nickel (including 1.5 meters at 1.54 g/t platinum+palladium), and 24 meters at 0.33 percent nickel with sulfur content up to 4,600 ppm. Ionic leach soil sampling across the project has identified multiple significant nickel-cobalt-copper-palladium-gold anomalies, underscoring the project’s polymetallic potential. According to the Geological Survey of Finland (2010), Tulppio’s PGE and nickel potential should be factored into future development of the Sokli region.

Ukko Gold-Copper Project

The Ukko project targets orogenic and potentially metamorphosed epithermal gold systems in an Archean greenstone setting. The geology comprises komatiites, mafic volcanics, massive sulphide lenses and mica schists – favorable hosts for both gold and base metal mineralization. Historical drilling by Outokumpu in 1985 intersected 2.05 meters at 2.25 g/t gold. Recent soil sampling has revealed a new gold-copper anomaly in the southeastern portion of the property, coinciding with high magnetic and conductive geophysical zones. Further geochemical and IP surveys are planned to constrain the structure and assess the potential for deeper epithermal or orogenic systems.

Management Team

Tero Kosonen – Chairman and CEO

A seasoned venture capitalist and natural resources investor, Tero Kosonen brings more than 30 years of experience in private equity and management. As co-founder of NewQuest Capital, he has led numerous early-stage ventures across energy and mining. He provides strategic leadership and capital markets expertise to FinEx.

Dr. Petri Peltonen – Chief Geologist

A globally respected exploration geologist with over 30 years of experience in gold, nickel and iron ore exploration, Dr. Petri Peltonen is the former exploration manager – Europe for FQM. He is an Associated Professor at the University of Helsinki. Peltonen ensures technical rigour and exploration success at FinEx.

Sandra Wong – CFO

With over 20 years in financial leadership roles across publicly listed companies, Sandra Wong brings deep experience in accounting, compliance and governance – critical for a newly listed entity with aggressive exploration goals.

Eetu Jokela – Project Manager

A local geologist with direct exploration experience with Agnico Eagle, Eetu Jokela is responsible for day-to-day field operations and geological planning, combining practical know-how with deep regional knowledge.

Olli Silvonen – Exploration Geologist

Experienced in regional greenfields exploration, Olli Silvonen supports mapping, sampling and trenching programs with a strong focus on gold and nickel-copper-PGE systems within the CLGB.

Jukka Jokela – Senior Advisor

The former CEO of Anglo American Sakatti Mining, Jukka Jokela offers more than 35 years of exploration and ESG leadership in the Nordic region, adding valuable permitting and stakeholder engagement capacity.

Dr. Pasi Eilu – Senior Advisor

With 40 years in academic and field exploration, Dr. Pasi Eilu is a recognized expert on greenstone-hosted gold and critical minerals in Finland. His work has shaped much of the geological understanding in Lapland.

Phil Smerchanski – Senior Technical Advisor

Phil Smerchanski brings more than two decades of experience in nickel and gold systems. A former senior technical lead at Oxygen Capital and Anglo American, he provides technical guidance across project pipeline development.

Zimbabwe’s rising role in the lithium sector

Zimbabwe in particular has positioned itself at the heart of Africa’s lithium expansion.

Under its Vision 2030 program, introduced in 2018, the country is aiming to transition to an upper- to middle-income economy by building more domestic value from its minerals. As part of this framework, authorities have prioritized increasing value addition and beneficiation of raw materials as a central pillar of economic growth

Zimbabwe’s 2022 ban on raw lithium ore exports, coupled with a planned 2027 ban on concentrate exports, is designed to force local upgrading and refining. Chinese-backed operators have already responded to this move, investing in midstream processing facilities that convert lithium ore into more valuable chemicals.

Cook said there were no surprises in Zimbabwe’s 2027 concentrate ban because Zimbabwe’s largest lithium projects — Arcadia and Bikita — had already planned sulfate plants late last year.

Both projects are already dominated by Chinese investors. In fact, Cook said Zimbabwe could soon become the fifth-largest producer of mined lithium globally, with Chinese interests controlling as much as 90 percent of its output.

Slide from Cook showing Zimbabwe’s future lithium supply dominance in Africa.

Image via Georgia Williams.

Despite this surge, Africa’s lithium boom is hardly risk-free. Cook flagged serious challenges in transport, electricity and worker conditions in her presentation at the Fastmarkets conference.

“Local workers often also tend to be within the lower skilled jobs, and unlike the Australian mines, a lot of that work is done manually, which can mean there is an increased risk to personal safety,” she said.

Road bottlenecks and port congestion in countries like South Africa hamper exports, while rolling blackouts push some miners to build their own power infrastructure. However, China’s Belt and Road Initiative is easing some of those pain points, upgrading key transport corridors to keep African lithium flowing.

China pushing to secure lithium supply

Domestically, China is also seeing a shift in how it sources lithium.

Benchmark Mineral Intelligence data shows that brine-based production, once a major source for China, is declining relative to hard rock. By 2035, hard rock will make up the majority of Chinese feedstock.

Cook speaks on stage at the Fastmarkets event.

Image via Georgia Williams.

While the reopening of CATL’s (SZSE:300750,HKEX:3750) mine in Jiangxi province this year will help, Cook argued that China is still structurally dependent on Africa and other regions to fill the supply gap.

That dependence, she said, is at the heart of Beijing’s long-term lithium security push. “China is directly investing to secure supply, to get that hard-rock feedstock,’ she commented.

Future regional lithium players in Africa

While Zimbabwe, along with Mali, is grabbing attention now, Cook forecast that new African lithium suppliers will emerge by 2035, including Ethiopia, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

She also noted potential future lithium supply growth from Rwanda, Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire, even though these countries are still years away from commercial production.

This potential dominance could come with price advantages too.

African lithium projects often have lower upfront costs compared to Australia because of their lower grades and cheaper labor, even though they may face higher impurities and weaker ESG oversight.

“It also means that in terms of pricing, we see that the spodumene price that’s coming out of some of these projects is typically around US$20 to US$30 lower than the spot price that you’ll see quoted by Newcastle,” Cook noted.

Still, quality issues and chronic underinvestment in African infrastructure could slow progress. Cook emphasized that transport, electricity reliability and governance will determine whether Africa can live up to its lithium promise.

Equity Metals (TSXV:EQTY,OTCQB:EQMEF,FSE: EGSD) is rapidly advancing exploration at its 100 percent-owned Silver Queen Project in British Columbia, aiming to expand resources and further de-risk one of the province’s most promising high-grade polymetallic deposits. Situated in the prolific Skeena Arch—home to the historic Equity Silver and Huckleberry mines—Silver Queen hosts an NI 43-101 compliant resource of 62.8 million ounces silver equivalent (indicated) and 22.5 million ounces silver equivalent (inferred). Ongoing drilling in 2024 continues to extend known zones while uncovering new areas of mineralization.

The company is also advancing its newly acquired Arlington Project, a district-scale, never-before-drilled gold-copper-silver asset located in southern BC’s Greenwood Mining Division. With geological similarities to historic producers such as Phoenix and Buckhorn, Arlington is currently undergoing an aggressive 3,000-meter drill program, targeting high-grade, gold-enriched polymetallic mineralization.

The Silver Queen Project is Equity Metals’ 100%-owned flagship asset, located in the heart of British Columbia’s prolific Skeena Arch, approximately 35 kilometers south of Houston. Covering 18,871 hectares, the property comprises 17 crown-granted titles and 46 mineral tenure claims within the Omineca Mining Division. Strategically positioned among past-producing and active mines, including the Equity Silver Mine, Berg, Endako, and Mt. Milligan, the project is well supported by established infrastructure, with convenient access to roads, power, and rail.

Company Highlights

• Flagship High-grade Project – Silver Queen: Over 85 million silver-equivalent ounces defined in the heart of BC’s Skeena Arch mineral belt, surrounded by Tier 1 infrastructure and historical producers.
• New Gold Discovery Potential – Arlington project: A district-scale, early-stage gold-copper-silver system with analogues to major past-producing skarn and vein-hosted mines in the region.
• Fully Funded for 2025: 9,000 meters of combined drilling is underway across both Silver Queen and Arlington with assay results expected to drive news flow through Q3 and Q4 2025.
• Experienced Management and Technical Team: Track record of discovery and mine development across North America, including the Penasquito and Eskay Creek mines and the Wind Mountain project.
• Exposure to Critical and Precious Metals: Balanced portfolio spanning silver, gold, copper and diamonds with optionality in battery materials (silica) and critical minerals.

This Equity Metals profile is part of a paid investor education campaign.*

Click here to connect with Equity Metals (TSXV:EQTY) to receive an Investor Presentation

South Harz Potash (ASX:SHP) is advancing a high-potential critical minerals project strategically located in central Europe. The South Harz Potash Project is ideally positioned to capitalize on long-term potash demand and price upside, benefiting from direct access to Europe’s agricultural markets, electrified rail infrastructure, and existing brownfield underground access.

In May 2024, the company completed a Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) for the Ohmgebirge Project, confirming robust economics and scalable development potential. South Harz’s key potash assets are secured under perpetual mining licenses, providing long-term tenure stability and a strong foundation for future development.

As Europe works to strengthen its critical mineral security, potash supply chains face increasing pressure. Over the past decade, European MOP production has steadily declined, while reliance on imports has grown increasingly vulnerable to geopolitical risks, sanctions, and trade restrictions affecting key exporters like Belarus and Russia. Positioned to address this supply gap, South Harz Potash offers the potential for a reliable, low-carbon, and locally sourced potash supply to support Western Europe’s agricultural hubs.

Company Highlights

• Advancing a Dual-Asset Strategy: Targeting acquisition of a second critical minerals project complementary to the company’s flagship Ohmgebirge Development, part of its broader South Harz Potash Project in Germany.
• Preservation and Growth of Long-Term Potash Option Value: Amidst current global and potash market volatility, the South Harz team is focussed on advancing its potash assets via non-dilutive funding sources such as German R&D tax rebates, ERMA funding, and ongoing engagement with financial and industry parties on potential strategic asset-level investment.
• Western Europe’s Largest Potash Resource: The South Harz Potash Project comprises a dominant 659 sq km land position in Germany’s South Harz Potash District, being three perpetual mining licences (including Ohmgebirge) and two exploration tenements.
• Perpetual Tenure: The South Harz mining licences are perpetual with no holding costs and no royalty obligations, ensuring maximum project flexibility and value retention.
• Long-Term Macro Tailwinds for Potash: Europe faces declining MOP supply and is increasingly reliant on imports amid geopolitical disruption in Belarus and Russia. South Harz Potash is primely positioned to deliver stable future supply of sustainable, low-carbon potash to European markets.
• Strong Project Viability: South Harz completed a Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) in 2024 which confirmed Ohmgebirge as a world-class brownfield development with robust technical parameters and excellent economic returns.

This South Harz Potash profile is part of a paid investor education campaign.*

Click here to connect with South Harz Potash (ASX:SHP) to receive an Investor Presentation