Ares Strategic Mining Inc. (CSE: ARS) (OTCQX: ARSMF) (FRA: N8I1) announced that commissioning of its Metallurgical Lumps Plant has commenced at the company's processing facility in Delta, Utah. For the first time, the entire processing plant has been powered up and is operating as one fully integrated system, marking the beginning of a four-week commissioning program.
The Lumps Plant is designed to process ore from the company's Lost Sheep Mine into metallurgical-grade fluorspar lumps, a product primarily supplied to U.S. steel industries. Over the coming weeks, Ares will undertake comprehensive integrated testing across all plant systems to verify performance, optimize operations, and prepare the facility for commercial production. Testing activities include verifying complete process flows from ore feed through to finished product; testing PLC control systems and HMI interfaces; monitoring and optimizing operating parameters including temperatures, pressures and material flows; validating alarm systems, diagnostics and automated start-up and shutdown sequences; and assessing crushing, drying and product quality to ensure metallurgical-grade fluorspar meets customer specifications.
James Walker, President and CEO of Ares Strategic Mining, said, "It's incredibly rewarding to see the entire Lumps Plant operating together for the first time. This is an exciting milestone for everyone involved with Ares and reflects years of planning, engineering and construction. Our focus now is on completing commissioning successfully and beginning production."
As commissioning progresses, fluorspar ore stockpiled at the Lost Sheep Mine will be transported to the Delta processing facility to support testing and initial ramp-up production runs. The company expects ramp-up production to begin on August 15, 2026. Ramp-up refers to increasing the feed to achieve full plant production potential. According to the company's press release of March 27, 2024, commercial offtake agreements are already in place covering the company's expected initial metspar production for the first five years.
The Lumps Plant has a designed processing capacity of approximately 150,000 tonnes per annum, providing capacity to support increased mine output and expansion across the Lost Sheep Project and the wider Spor Mountain Range. Walker added, "We've intentionally built infrastructure that extends well beyond our initial mining rate. As we continue developing additional fluorspar targets across our property, this processing capacity gives us a platform for future growth while supporting our objective of establishing a secure U.S. supply of this critical mineral."
The commencement of commissioning is a significant step for Ares Strategic Mining as it moves toward becoming a domestic supplier of fluorspar, a mineral designated as critical by the U.S. government due to its importance in steelmaking, aluminum production, and the manufacturing of fluorochemicals. The company's fully permitted Lost Sheep Fluorspar Project spans 5,982 acres in Juab County, Utah, and has an approved mining plan from the Bureau of Land Management. With offtake agreements secured and processing infrastructure coming online, Ares is positioned to reduce U.S. reliance on imported fluorspar, which currently supplies over 90% of domestic demand.
