Ares Strategic Mining Inc. (CSE: ARS) (OTCQX: ARSMF) (FRA: N8I1) 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. The material has begun entering the Metallurgical Lumps Plant for processing, marking a pivotal transition from infrastructure development to operational production.
The arrival and feeding of mined Lost Sheep ore into the plant represents one of the most significant operational milestones achieved by Ares to date. Following years of mine development, engineering, construction, and commissioning, the company has now connected the two principal components of its operation: ore extraction from the Lost Sheep Mine and processing at the Delta plant. 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, progressively refining 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 live-material ramp-up phase follows the completion of integrated commissioning of the Lumps Plant, which brought electrical, conveyor, control, crushing, and drying systems online as a complete facility. During this next stage, operators will evaluate and refine plant performance, including ore feed rates, crushing performance, conveyor loading, drying parameters, PLC and 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 adjustments for reliable, repeatable production.
For 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 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. Ares believes the commencement of mine-to-plant operations represents tangible progress toward rebuilding domestic fluorspar production capability. 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 Metallurgical Lumps Plant is the first major processing component of Ares' broader strategy, producing metallurgical-grade fluorspar for steelmaking and other industrial applications. The company is also advancing an adjacent Flotation Plant designed to manufacture higher-purity acid-grade fluorspar, which is essential for hydrofluoric acid production and a wide range of fluorine-based industrial materials. By operating both facilities alongside its own mining operation, Ares aims to provide increased control across extraction, processing, product quality, and delivery, establishing a scalable platform to serve U.S. industrial and strategic-material customers.
With commercial arrangements already in place for its anticipated initial metspar output, Ares has an established route to market. The company's immediate priority is to optimize plant performance through the live-material campaign, progressively increase ore feed, assess finished product specifications, and establish repeatable operating parameters. Additional updates will be provided as the plant advances through the ramp-up program.
