Ares Strategic Mining Inc. officially opened its Fluorspar Lumps Plant in Delta, Utah, on October 9, 2026, marking the return of commercial fluorspar production to the United States after more than three decades of complete reliance on foreign imports. The plant processes raw fluorspar from the company's fully permitted Lost Sheep Mine into metallurgical-grade lumps, an essential ingredient for steel and aluminum production. The ceremony, reported by NEWMEDIAWIRE, drew state and federal congressional representatives, key regional and local stakeholders, including the Delta City Council, the entire Ares and Provo Mining teams and local Delta families.
The significance of this opening extends beyond a single facility. In the early 1970s, cheaper foreign fluorspar imports caused domestic production to wane, and commercial production ceased entirely by 1995. For over thirty years, the U.S. has been 100% dependent on foreign sources of fluorspar, a critical mineral used in steel, aluminum, electric vehicle batteries, semiconductors, and technology applications. Ares' vertically integrated operation—owning and controlling the mineral from the ground to final market-ready forms—directly addresses this national vulnerability. "Ares was built on a simple idea: become the leading fluorspar mining company in North America and return fluorspar manufacturing to the U.S.," said James Walker, CEO of Ares Strategic Mining. "Opening this plant is the start of that realization."
The event also revived a rich local legacy. The Spor Mountain district once supplied fluorspar to industry for more than eighty years, with ore hauled into Delta by the district's earliest operators, including local Delta families. Ares is putting that history back to work by mining Spor Mountain, trucking ore to Delta, and processing it on site alongside the community. The ceremony was attended by U.S. Representative Mike Kennedy, who delivered the keynote address and highlighted ongoing federal support. "The Federal government is committed to helping great people, like Ares, who are re-domesticating industries like fluorspar that we've put to the side for decades," Kennedy said. "The State of Utah supported Ares with an $11m loan, and we know that working together, both State and Federal, we can make our country more secure, stable and prosperous."
Market demand for fluorspar remains strong. In addition to a $168.9m contract from the U.S. Department of Defense for its future acidspar product, Ares holds a signed Memorandum of Understanding with global commodities trader Cremer Erzkontor Inc. to distribute its metspar product across North America. With the Lumps Plant's 165,347-ton annual capacity and current metspar prices between $350 and $520 per metric ton, potential gross product value exceeds $25 million annually, signaling the company's transition into revenue generation. Ares is favorably positioned as the only commercial fluorspar operation in the U.S.
The Lumps Plant, approximately 7 acres in footprint on a fully owned 50-acre site off Highway 6, will initially be fed by ore from the Lost Sheep Mine, which represents just one of the company's 353 claims in the district. Recent geophysical surveys confirmed a further 49 preliminary fluorspar targets near existing infrastructure. Ares aims to expand its Delta footprint with a complementary Acidspar Flotation Plant, for which machinery is already on site and construction has commenced. Once both plants are operational, the company can shift between producing metspar for steel and aluminum industries and acidspar for EV batteries, semiconductors, and technology applications. Additionally, Ares intends to further develop a program with Found Industries for the recovery of gallium, germanium, and other strategic critical materials from its feedstocks. "There's a new American industrial base hiding in plain sight," said Peter Godart, President and CEO of Found Industries. "Ares is building a domestic supply chain for fluorspar and in doing so is creating an opportunity to recover other critical metals from the same resource."
