Key Takeaways:
Why Critical Minerals Are the New Oil?
The demand for critical minerals is soaring in this clean energy era. From EVs and renewable power grids to energy storage, aerospace, and defense, modern technologies all rely on a steady flow of essential metals.
In 2024, the critical minerals market hit US$328 billion—and it’s on track to reach US$587 billion by 2032, growing at 7.5% annually.
Source: datamintelligence
According to the IEA’s Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2025, as electrification accelerates, demand for lithium, nickel, cobalt, and copper surged by 6–30% in the last year. Clean energy applications now account for over 40% of copper and rare earth demand, 60–70% of nickel and cobalt use, and nearly 90% of lithium consumption.
Market Dynamics and Demand Drivers
- Nickel and Copper: Nickel is a key component in lithium-ion batteries, crucial for EVs and energy storage. Copper forms the backbone of electrical systems and renewables. With EV adoption rising, nickel demand is set to jump over 20% by 2030.
- Gold: While gold remains a go-to store of value, its use in electronics and medical devices ensures stable demand even during market volatility.
- Platinum Group Metals (PGMs): Platinum and palladium are vital for catalytic converters and hydrogen fuel cells, playing a growing role in clean technologies.
- Titanium: Titanium is essential in the aerospace, defense, and green tech sectors due to its strength, corrosion resistance, and lightweight.
The need for PGMs in hydrogen fuel cells and titanium in aerospace and defense further highlights the strategic importance of these metals.
Gold in the Spotlight: A Safe Haven with Industrial Strength
In 2025, gold is shining bright as one of the best-performing assets, surging nearly 30% year-to-date. Prices reached record levels above US$2,850/oz, fueled by inflation fears, geopolitical tension, and economic uncertainty.
- Central banks boosted reserves by hundreds of tonnes
- Gold ETF inflows doubled from 2024
- China’s retail investors remain active in physical gold
- Jewelry sales value has increased.
In this bullish market, analysts remain upbeat about gold’s price outlook. Major firms like Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan expect prices to rise to between US$3,500 and US$3,900 per ounce by the end of 2025. They cite strong central bank buying, rising ETF inflows, and possible interest rate cuts driven by recession fears.
Some projections even push gold near US$4,000 per ounce by mid-2026, as investors turn to it as a safe haven during market turbulence.
Source: Bloomberg
One company seizing this moment is Formation Metals Inc. (CSE: FOMO | OTCPK: FOMTF). It is building a high-impact portfolio of mineral assets across North America’s safest, most mining-friendly regions. With a strategic focus on gold, nickel, copper, cobalt, PGMs, and titanium, FOMO gives investors front-row access to the booming green energy transition.
Formation Metals: Catalyzing Canada’s Critical Minerals
The Vancouver-based mining junior’s key asset is the 85%-owned Nicobat Project in Dobie Township, Ontario. With two patented claims and strong local infrastructure, it’s well-positioned to deliver vital battery metals like nickel, copper, and cobalt for North America’s clean energy push.
The company aims to create shareholder value by advancing high-potential critical mineral projects that support North America’s energy transition.
Here’s unlocking its project portfolio:
N2 Gold Project – Québec’s Abitibi Greenstone Belt
Situated in the prolific Abitibi Greenstone Belt, the N2 Gold Project is Formation Metals’ flagship asset, covering approximately 4,400 hectares with 87 claims in Québec’s Eeyou Istchee James Bay territory.
- Historic Resource: Approximately 877,000 ounces of gold (non-NI 43-101 compliant), including:
– 18.2 million tonnes grading 1.48 g/t Au (~810,000 oz) across four zones.
– 243,000 tonnes grading 7.82 g/t Au (~67,000 oz) in the RJ zone. - Exploration Highlights: Drill intercepts include high-grade gold up to 51.26 g/t Au over 0.8 metres and broad zones starting at surface with 1.7 g/t over 35 metres.
- Upcoming Plans: A fully funded 5,000-metre drill program is planned for 2025 to expand and define resources.
- Community Engagement: Strong partnerships with local municipalities and Indigenous communities ensure responsible development.
This project offers significant exploration upside in one of the world’s most mineral-rich regions.
Nicobat Project – Nickel-Copper-Cobalt-PGM, Ontario
The Nicobat Project, located in Dobie Township, Ontario, is a high-potential nickel-copper-cobalt-platinum group metals asset with excellent infrastructure and mining-friendly jurisdiction.
- Ownership: 100% owned by Formation Metals.
- Mineralization: Multiple zones of nickel-copper-cobalt and PGMs confirmed by historic and recent drilling.
- Strategic Importance: Positioned to supply critical battery metals essential for North America’s EV and clean energy markets.
- Development Potential: The project holds combined surface and mining rights patents, providing a strong foundation for advancement.
Titanium Project – Québec
Formation Metals is advancing an early-stage titanium project in Québec, targeting a metal critical for aerospace, defense, and green technologies.
- Exploration Potential: Large-scale area with promising geological indicators.
- Strategic Commodity: Titanium’s strength, corrosion resistance, and lightweight properties make it vital for sustainable technology applications.
Experienced Team Steering FOMO Forward
Formation Metals boasts a leadership team with strong expertise in exploration, development, and finance. CEO Deepak Varshney, P.Geo., leads here with a proven track record in managing mineral projects and driving growth. CFO Khalid Naeem, CPA, CGA, handles financial strategy and ensures disciplined capital management to maximize returns for shareholders.
Industry veterans on the board provide strategic direction and uphold strong governance, with a clear focus on sustainability and ESG values. With over 67% insider ownership, the team has a direct stake in the company’s success. Together, they actively advance projects, strengthen community ties, and maintain a firm commitment to responsible development.
Financial Structure and Performance
The company keeps finances in check as it advances exploration efforts. As of mid-2025, the company holds a market cap of around CA$19 million with approximately 47.7 million shares outstanding.
Importantly, FOMO carries no debt, giving it a clean balance sheet and lower financial risk. With around CA$2 million in working capital, enough to fully fund its upcoming 5,000-metre drill program at the N2 Gold Project and continue exploration at Nicobat and its titanium property.
The company’s shares show stable performance with moderate volatility. Its May 2025 uplisting to the OTCQB Venture Market improved liquidity and expanded access to U.S. investors.
Additionally, insiders and strategic investors hold over two-thirds of the float, keeping management closely aligned with shareholders. The stock trades at a discount to peers, offering investors strong upside in the critical minerals space.
What’s Next for Formation Metals?
FOMO is entering a key growth phase, with major milestones expected throughout 2025 and beyond. The company has submitted its Application for Authorization to the Québec government to begin a fully funded 5,000-metre drill program at the N2 Gold Project. This campaign aims to expand the historic gold resource, explore new targets, and uncover more high-grade zones, especially in the promising “A” and “RJ” areas.
At the same time, the company will advance exploration at its Nicobat Project, targeting critical battery metals like nickel, copper, cobalt, and platinum group metals. Formation plans to launch additional drilling and geological work to unlock further value. Work will also continue at the Québec titanium property, where the team will define exploration targets and assess the project’s resource potential.
Formation also plans to build on its recent OTCQB Venture Market uplisting to boost visibility and attract more U.S. investors. Throughout all activities, the company remains committed to responsible exploration and strong partnerships with Indigenous communities and local stakeholders.
Why Invest in Formation Metals?
- Diversified Metal Exposure: Formation offers access to gold, nickel, copper, cobalt, PGMs, and titanium—spanning several high-growth sectors and reducing risk.
- Safe, Mining-Friendly Locations: All projects are based in Canada, with strong infrastructure and supportive communities, minimizing geopolitical and operational risks.
- Proven, Aligned Leadership: The team brings deep industry experience and owns a large stake in the company, ensuring their goals align closely with shareholders.
- Solid Financials and No Debt: Formation holds enough cash to fund exploration and carries zero debt, keeping its balance sheet clean and flexible.
- High Exploration Potential: With a historic gold resource and exciting battery and titanium metal assets, upcoming drilling could significantly boost project value.
- Tied to the Clean Energy Future: As demand grows for EVs and renewable energy, Formation’s critical metals position it to benefit directly from the global energy transition.
DISCLOSURES/DISCLAIMER
Investing in stocks is HIGH RISK. You could lose All of your investment
CarbonCredits.com, as a publisher, is not a broker, investment advisor, or financial advisor in any jurisdiction.
Please do not rely on the information presented by CarbonCredits.com as personal investment advice.
If you need personal investment advice, kindly reach out to a qualified and registered broker, investment advisor, or financial advisor.
The communications from CarbonCredits.com should not form the basis of your investment decisions. Examples we provide regarding share price increases related to specific companies are based on randomly selected time periods and should not be taken as an indicator or predictor of future stock prices for those companies.
Formations Metals Inc. has sponsored this report.
The information in this newsletter does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities of a corporation or entity, including U.S. Traded Securities or U.S. Quoted Securities, in the United States or to the U.S. Persons. Securities may not be offered or sold in the United States except in compliance with the registration requirements of the Securities Act and applicable U.S. state securities laws or pursuant to an exemption therefrom.
Any public offering of securities in the United States may only be made by means of a prospectus containing detailed information about the corporation or entity and its management as well as financial statements. No securities regulatory authority in the United States has either approved or disapproved of the contents of any newsletter. CarbonCredits.com nor any employee of CarbonCredits.com is not registered with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”): as a “broker-dealer” under the Exchange Act, as an “investment adviser” under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, or in any other capacity. CarbonCredits.com, its owners, directors, and employees are also not registered with any state securities commission or authority as a broker-dealer or investment advisor or in any other capacity.
HIGHLY BIASED:
In our role, we aim to highlight specific companies for your further investigation; however, these are not stock recommendations, nor do they constitute an offer or sale of the referenced securities. CarbonCredits.com has received cash compensation from Formations Metals Inc. and is thus extremely biased. It is crucial that you conduct your own research prior to investing. This includes reading the companies’ SEDAR and SEC filings, press releases, and risk disclosures. The information contained in our profiles is based on data provided by the companies, extracted from SEDAR and SEC filings, company websites, and other publicly available sources.
CarbonCredits.com, and its directors, employees, and members of their households directly own or may own shares of Formations Metals Inc. (FOMO). Therefore, CarbonCredits.com is extremely biased. Measures are in place such that no shares will be sold during the active awareness campaign.
HIGH RISK:
The securities issued by the companies we feature should be seen as high risk; if you choose to invest, despite these warnings, you may lose your entire investment. You must be aware of the risks and be willing to accept them in order to invest in financial instruments, including stocks, options, and futures.
NOT PROFESSIONAL ADVICE:
By reading this, you agree to all of the following: You understand this to be an expression of opinions and NOT professional advice. You are solely responsible for the use of any content and hold CarbonCredits.com, and all partners, members, and affiliates harmless in any event or claim. While CarbonCredits.com strives to provide accurate and reliable information sourced from believed-to-be trustworthy sources, we cannot guarantee the accuracy or reliability of the information. The information provided reflects conditions as they are at the moment of writing and not at any future date. CarbonCredits.com is not obligated to update, correct, or revise the information post-publication.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT AND FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION
Certain statements contained in this presentation may constitute “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information generally can be identified by words such as “anticipate”, “expect”, “estimate”, “forecast”, “planned”, and similar expressions suggesting future outcomes or events. Forward-looking information is based on current expectations of management; however, it is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking information in this presentation and include without limitation, the anticipated timing for gold production; that current funding in progress will actually close; that start-up schedule will be fulfilled; that anticipated funding will be available; all upside potential anticipated for the Madsen Mine; that the anticipated mitigation approaches will have the anticipated results; the results of the PFS, including, but not limited to, the anticipated post-tax NPV and IRR at the Madsen Mine, the anticipated average annual production and cash flow, the anticipated Madsen Mine start date, the probability of the additional opportunities to be able to convert more resource into reserves, the process plant gold recovery estimates, the anticipated number of people that will be employed to restart the Madsen Mine, the anticipated development and management of the Madsen Mine tailings, the remaining expenditure requirements, the projected sustaining capital requirements, the key assumptions, parameters and methods used to estimate the mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates relating to the PFS, the operational and economic results of the PFS, including grade or quality of mineral deposits, and the LOM projections and estimates and the Company’s future objectives and plans. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information.
Forward-looking information involve numerous risks and uncertainties and actual results might differ materially from results suggested in any forward-looking information. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, market volatility; the state of the financial markets for the Company’s securities; fluctuations in commodity prices; timing and results of the cleanup and recovery at the Madsen Mine; and changes in the Company’s business plans. Forward-looking information is based on a number of key expectations and assumptions, including without limitation, the timing of the markets; the accuracy and reliability of technical data, forecasts, estimates and studies, including the PFS; estimates of mineral resources and mineral reserves; anticipated costs and expenditures; future results of operations; ability to satisfy power infrastructure; availability and ability to procure personnel, machinery, supplies, and equipment from local sources where possible; the characteristics of the Madsen Mine; tax rates and royalty rates applicable to the Madsen Mine; the relationship between the Company and the local communities and its business partners; ability to operate in a safe and effective manner; the success of exploration, development and processing activities; that the Company will continue with its stated business objectives and its ability to raise additional capital to proceed. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. Additional information about risks and uncertainties is contained in the Company’s management’s discussion and analysis for the year ended November 30, 2023, and the Company’s annual information form for the year ended November 30, 2023, copies of which are available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.
The forward-looking information contained herein is expressly qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement. Forward-looking information reflects management’s current beliefs and is based on information currently available to the Company. The forward-looking information is made as of the date of this presentation and the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise such information to reflect new events or circumstances, except as may be required by applicable law.
For more information on the Company, investors should review the Company’s continuous disclosure filings that are available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.
FUTURE ORIENTED FINANCIAL INFORMATION
To the extent any forward-looking information in this presentation constitutes “future-oriented financial information” or “financial outlooks” within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws, such information is being provided to demonstrate the anticipated market penetration and the reader is cautioned that this information may not be appropriate for any other purpose and the reader should not place undue reliance on such future-oriented financial information and financial outlooks. Future oriented-financial information and financial outlooks, as with forward-looking information generally, are, without limitation, based on the assumptions and subject to the risks set out above under the heading “Forward Looking Statements”. The Company’s actual financial position and results of operations may differ materially from management’s current expectations and, as a result, the Company’s revenue and expenses may differ materially from the revenue and expenses profiles provided in this presentation. Such information is presented for illustrative purposes only and may not be an indication of the Company’s actual financial position or results of operations.
MARKET RESEARCH AND PUBLIC DATA
This presentation contains or references certain market, industry and peer group data which is based upon information from independent industry publications, market research, analyst reports and surveys and other publicly available sources. Although the Company believe these sources to be generally reliable, such information is subject to interpretation and cannot be verified with complete certainty due to limits on the availability and reliability of raw data, the voluntary nature of the data gathering process and other inherent limitations and uncertainties. The Company has not independently verified any of the data from third party sources referred to in this presentation and accordingly, the accuracy and completeness of such data is not guaranteed. This presentation is confidential and is being provided to you solely for your information and may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form or forwarded or further distributed to any other person. Any forwarding, distribution or reproduction of this document in whole or in part is unauthorized. By accepting and reviewing this presentation, you acknowledge and agree (i) to maintain the confidentiality of this document and the information contained herein, (ii) to protect such information in the same manner you protect your own confidential information, which shall be at least a reasonable standard of care and (iii) to not utilize any of the information contained herein except to assist with your evaluation of the Company.
The technical information contained in this presentation has been reviewed and approved by Will Robinson, a “Qualified Person” as defined by National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.