Ares Strategic Mining Inc. (CSE: ARS) (OTCQX: ARSMF) (FRA: N8I1) has announced that fluorspar ore from its Lost Sheep Mine in Utah is now being trucked to its processing facility in Delta, Utah, where it has started entering the Metallurgical Lumps Plant. This marks a significant operational milestone, as the company connects its mine to its processing plant for the first time.
The company has progressed through years of mine development, construction, and commissioning. Now, with ore being extracted, transported, and introduced into the plant, Ares is transitioning from an infrastructure-development phase to an operating mining and processing business. Over the coming week, the operations team will use increasing quantities of mined material to optimize the plant's performance around the specific characteristics of Lost Sheep ore, refining settings and operating parameters before moving toward sustained production.
James Walker, President and CEO, 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."
The live-material ramp-up is crucial for optimizing plant performance. During this stage, operators will evaluate and refine ore feed rates, crushing performance, conveyor loading, drying parameters, PLC/HMI systems, and final product quality. The goal is to establish reliable, repeatable production using actual mined material rather than theoretical feed characteristics.
This milestone is strategically important for U.S. mineral security. Fluorspar remains on the 2025 U.S. List of Critical Minerals, essential for steelmaking, aluminum, refrigerants, and other industries. According to the U.S. Geological Survey's 2026 Mineral Commodity Summaries, the U.S. was 100% net import reliant for fluorspar in 2025, with no significant domestic mine production for decades. Ares' progress represents tangible steps toward rebuilding domestic capability.
The company has also secured a multi-year Defense Logistics Agency framework for future supply of acid-grade fluorspar, underscoring the strategic value of domestic production. The Lumps Plant is designed to produce metallurgical-grade fluorspar (metspar), used primarily as a flux in steelmaking. Ares is also advancing an adjacent Flotation Plant to produce higher-purity acid-grade fluorspar (acidspar) for hydrofluoric acid production, a feedstock for many fluorine-based materials.
By operating both facilities alongside its own mining operation, Ares aims to provide increased control across extraction, processing, and delivery, establishing a scalable platform to serve U.S. industrial and strategic-material customers. The company has already announced commercial arrangements for its anticipated initial metspar output, providing an established route to market.
Walker added, "Our shareholders have watched the underground workings being built, the processing plant rise from concrete foundations, the steel structures go up, the conveyors and electrical systems come online, and thousands of tons of ore accumulate at the mine. Now they can see that ore on trucks and entering the plant. We are mining a critical mineral in Utah and we are now processing that material in Utah. That is exactly what this Company was created to accomplish."
The company's immediate priority is to use the live-material campaign to optimize plant performance, progressively increase ore feed, and establish repeatable operating parameters. Additional updates will be provided as the ramp-up progresses.
