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 its processing facility in Delta, Utah, where it has begun entering the Metallurgical Lumps Plant for processing. This marks a pivotal moment 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 represents one of the most significant operational milestones achieved by Ares to date. Following years of mine development, engineering, construction, equipment installation, and systems commissioning, the company has now connected the mine to 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 signifies 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.
James Walker, President and Chief Executive Officer 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, 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 of this stage is not simply to demonstrate that individual pieces of equipment operate, but 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.
For Ares, the significance of this milestone extends beyond the commencement of plant operations. The company has progressed from identifying and developing a domestic mineral resource, through construction of underground mining infrastructure and a purpose-built processing facility, to mining, stockpiling, transporting, and now processing its own fluorspar ore. The movement of ore between the Lost Sheep Mine and Delta processing facility provides shareholders with a visible representation of the company's transition from an infrastructure-development program toward an operating mining and processing business.
Walker continued: "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 of Ares' operational ramp-up comes against a strategically important backdrop for U.S. mineral security. Fluorspar remains on the 2025 U.S. List of Critical Minerals, reflecting its importance to the American economy and national security and the vulnerability of its supply chain. 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 more than an important company milestone: it 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 represents the first major processing component of Ares' broader development strategy. Material processed through the Lumps Plant is intended to establish Ares' production of metallurgical-grade fluorspar for industrial markets. The infrastructure also forms part of the company's broader Delta processing platform, where Ares is advancing its adjacent Flotation Plant, designed to manufacture higher-purity acid-grade fluorspar (acidspar). Ares' strategy is therefore designed to address two distinct markets: near-term production of metallurgical fluorspar through the Lumps Plant and the subsequent development of high-purity acidspar production through the Flotation Plant.
Ares has previously announced commercial arrangements covering its anticipated initial metspar output, providing the company with an established route to market as the Lumps Plant progresses through ramp-up and toward sustained production. The company's 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.
