Ares Strategic Mining Inc. (CSE: ARS) (OTCQX: ARSMF) (FRA: N8I1) has 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 development represents one of the most significant operational milestones for the company, as it connects the two principal components of its operation: ore extraction and processing.
The arrival and feeding of mined Lost Sheep ore into the plant marks the culmination of years of mine development, engineering, construction, equipment installation, and systems commissioning. Over the coming week, the 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.
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 commencement of ore haulage and live-material processing represents a fundamental change in the nature of Ares' activities. The company has progressed through underground development, ventilation and mining infrastructure; construction of the Delta processing facility; installation of conveyors, electrical distribution and Motor Control Center systems; integrated commissioning of the Lumps Plant; and the accumulation of mined fluorspar ore at surface. The operation is now moving into the phase for which that infrastructure was constructed: moving mined material through an integrated domestic fluorspar production chain.
During this next stage, the company's operators will progressively evaluate and refine plant performance, including ore feed rates and consistency, crushing performance and product sizing, conveyor loading and material transfer, drying performance and operating parameters, PLC/HMI/alarm and automated operating sequences, material flow through the complete plant circuit, and final product characteristics and quality. The purpose is to establish how the complete facility performs when processing representative Lost Sheep ore continuously and to make the operating adjustments necessary for reliable, repeatable production.
The Lumps Plant is designed to manufacture metallurgical-grade fluorspar (metspar), used principally as a flux in steelmaking and other metallurgical applications. The company has designed the plant with substantial capacity to allow for further potential future production.
This milestone is strategically important as fluorspar remains on the 2025 U.S. List of Critical Minerals, reflecting its importance to the American economy and national security. 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. Against that backdrop, Ares believes the commencement of mine-to-plant operations at Lost Sheep represents tangible progress toward rebuilding a domestic industrial capability that has been largely absent from the United States for a generation.
The Metallurgical Lumps Plant is the first major processing component of Ares' broader development strategy. The company is also advancing its adjacent Flotation Plant, designed to manufacture higher-purity acid-grade fluorspar (acidspar), which typically contains at least approximately 97% calcium fluoride and is the principal mineral feedstock used in hydrofluoric acid production. Ares' strategy is designed to address two distinct markets: near-term production of metallurgical fluorspar through the Lumps Plant and subsequent development of high-purity acidspar production through the Flotation Plant.
The company has previously announced commercial arrangements covering its anticipated initial metspar output, providing an established route to market. The immediate operational priority is to use the current live-material campaign to optimize plant performance, progressively increase ore feed, assess finished product specifications, and establish repeatable operating parameters. Additional operational updates will be provided as the plant advances through the live-feed ramp-up program.
