Ares Strategic Mining Inc. (CSE: ARS) (OTCQX: ARSMF) (FRA: N8I1) has announced a significant operational milestone: 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 it has begun entering the Metallurgical Lumps Plant for processing. The arrival and feeding of mined ore into the plant represents one of the most significant operational achievements for Ares to date, connecting the two principal components of its operation: extraction from the mine and processing at the 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 commencement of ore haulage and live-material processing marks a fundamental change in the nature of Ares' activities, moving from infrastructure development to integrated mine-to-plant operations.
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."
During this next stage, operators will evaluate and refine plant performance, including ore feed rates, crushing performance, conveyor loading, drying performance, PLC/HMI systems, and final product quality. The purpose is to establish how the complete facility performs when processing representative Lost Sheep ore continuously and to make necessary operating adjustments 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.
For Ares' shareholders, this milestone provides a visible representation of the company's transition from an infrastructure-development program toward an operating mining and processing business. 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. For our team, this is one of the most satisfying stages of the project because all of those separate workstreams are beginning to operate as one business. 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 timing is strategically important for U.S. mineral security. Fluorspar remains on the 2025 U.S. List of Critical Minerals, and the U.S. Geological Survey's 2026 Mineral Commodity Summaries indicates the United States was 100% net import reliant for fluorspar in 2025. Ares believes the commencement of mine-to-plant operations represents tangible progress toward rebuilding a domestic industrial capability that has been largely absent for a generation. The company has also secured a multi-year Defense Logistics Agency framework for future supply of acid-grade fluorspar, reinforcing the strategic importance of establishing scalable domestic mining and processing capabilities.
The Lumps Plant is the first major processing component of Ares' broader strategy. The infrastructure also forms part of the Delta processing platform, where Ares is advancing its adjacent Flotation Plant, designed to manufacture higher-purity acid-grade fluorspar (acidspar). Ares' strategy addresses two distinct markets: near-term production of metspar through the Lumps Plant and subsequent development of acidspar through the Flotation Plant. The company believes operating both facilities alongside its own domestic mining operation can provide increased control across extraction, processing, product quality, and delivery.
Ares has previously announced commercial arrangements covering its anticipated initial metspar output, providing an established route to market as the Lumps Plant progresses through ramp-up. The company's immediate 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.
