Ares Strategic Mining Inc. (CSE: ARS) (OTCQX: ARSMF) (FRA: N8I1) announced that fluorspar ore mined from its Lost Sheep Mine in Utah is now being transported by truck to the company's processing facility in Delta, Utah, where the material has begun entering the Metallurgical Lumps Plant for processing. This operational milestone connects the mine to the plant, a critical step in becoming a domestic producer of fluorspar, a mineral on the U.S. List of Critical Minerals.
The arrival and feeding of mined Lost Sheep ore into the plant represents one of the most significant operational milestones achieved by Ares to date. Following years of mine development, engineering, construction, equipment installation, and systems commissioning, the company has now connected the two principal components of its operation: ore is being extracted from the Lost Sheep Mine, transported to Delta, and introduced into the processing plant.
Over the coming week, Ares' operations team will use increasing quantities of actual mined material to tune and optimize the Lumps Plant around the specific physical and processing characteristics of Lost Sheep ore. This live-material ramp-up phase is intended to progressively refine plant settings and operating parameters before moving toward sustained production rates. The company's operators will evaluate and refine ore feed rates, crushing performance, conveyor loading, drying performance, PLC/HMI systems, material flow, and final product quality.
James Walker, President and CEO of Ares Strategic Mining, commented: "There is an enormous difference between constructing and commissioning a plant and actually seeing trucks of your own ore arriving and that material entering the processing circuit. We have now connected the mine to the plant. This is the physical supply chain we have spent years building. Over the next week, our engineers and operators will use real Lost Sheep material to fine-tune the plant and understand exactly how the ore behaves through each stage of the process. We can optimize around the material we are actually mining rather than theoretical feed characteristics. Every truckload gives our team more operating information and takes us another step toward establishing consistent production."
The significance of this milestone extends beyond the commencement of plant operations. The company has progressed from identifying and developing a domestic mineral resource, through construction of underground mining infrastructure and a purpose-built processing facility, to mining, stockpiling, transporting, and now processing its own fluorspar ore. This provides shareholders with a visible representation of the company's transition from an infrastructure-development program toward an operating mining and processing business.
The timing comes against a strategically important backdrop for U.S. mineral security. Fluorspar remains on the 2025 U.S. List of Critical Minerals, reflecting its importance to the American economy and national security and the vulnerability of its supply chain. According to the U.S. Geological Survey's 2026 Mineral Commodity Summaries, the United States was 100% net import reliant for fluorspar in 2025, excluding Government stockpile sales, and significant U.S. fluorspar mine production had not been reported for decades.
The U.S. Defense Logistics Agency's Strategic Materials organization, responsible for the National Defense Stockpile, identifies the development and qualification of domestic sources of strategic materials as part of its mission. Ares has separately secured a multi-year Defense Logistics Agency framework for the future supply of acid-grade fluorspar, further reinforcing the strategic importance of establishing scalable domestic mining and processing capabilities.
The Metallurgical Lumps Plant is designed to manufacture metallurgical-grade fluorspar (metspar), used principally as a flux in steelmaking and other metallurgical applications. Ares is also advancing an adjacent Flotation Plant to produce acid-grade fluorspar (acidspar), containing at least approximately 97% calcium fluoride, which is the principal feedstock for hydrofluoric acid production and a broad range of fluorine-based industrial materials.
Ares has previously announced commercial arrangements covering its anticipated initial metspar output, providing an established route to market. The company's immediate operational priority is to use the live-material campaign to optimize plant performance, progressively increase ore feed, and establish repeatable operating parameters.
As the only domestic fluorspar producer in the United States, Ares is developing a vertically integrated critical minerals platform through its Lost Sheep Mine and processing facilities in Utah. This milestone represents tangible progress toward rebuilding a domestic industrial capability that has been largely absent from the United States for a generation.
