Published: March 18, 2021 |

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Ares Strategic Mining has completed its conceptual mine and operating plan for its Lost Sheep fluorspar mine located at the Spor Mountain area in Utah. The plan includes mining and processing engineering, logistics, metallurgy, plant designs, site layouts, labor and contractor considerations, haulage, reclamation, CAPEX AND OPEX, permitting, mining techniques, drilling and geophysics, production expansion plans, financial projections, market analysis, mineralogy, land acquisitions, and production products.

Project conceptual capital and operating cost analyses were generated based on economic and marketing parameters. The project analysis results determined the project is financially attractive based on the project’s CAPEX and OPEX, fluorspar pricing, operating parameters, market factors, and assumptions.

The Operation

The underground mine operating plan will employ sublevel longhole methods as the main mining method. Initial underground mining will be undertaken by a mining contractor, with the company assuming to takeover mining work once the operation and processing is developed and optimized.

Fluorspar material mined from the pipes will be transported from the mine site by conventional highway haulage trucks to the processing facility located at the city of Delta, where process water and other utilities are readily available. The process plant design capacity is 500 tpd. The process plant will produce two products: a medium-purity 90 percent grade fluorite (CaF2) met-spar product for pyro-metallurgical applications, and a high-purity 97 percent grade fluorite (CaF2) acid-spar product for acid process applications and the aluminum industry. Process plant fluorspar recovery is scheduled to be minimum of 80 percent. The process plant will consist of:

• A crushing circuit consists of jaw and cone crushing processes, following by a ball mill grinding circuit
• Multi-stage high-intensity conditioning
• Rougher and cleaner flotation circuits with a regrind circuit to increase Fluorspar recovery

The met-spar products will be dewatered and dried for packaging to meet consumers requirements. The final fluorspar products will be shipped to the consumers by either rail or truck from the Delta process plant. The tailings will be thickened, filtered, and dried for transportation back to the mine site to be deposited in the mined-out fluorspar pipes to mitigate tailings surface storage.

Metallurgical test work was undertaken to determine the optimum process plant flowsheet and to produce met-spar and acid-spar specific products. Concentrate multi element analysis determined the concentrate produced was very clean and free of deleterious contaminants.

Ares’ fluorspar operation is expected to directly employ 58 people, not including contractors. All projected costs incorporate labor and employee costs as determined by industry standards and averages.

Ongoing exploration costs are estimated at $750K/yr to replace the mined Fluorspar. Over 100 targets have been identified at surface, with the Bell Hill Claims at the south of the Spor Mountain currently identified as the likely candidate for the company’s second mining operation site. Exploration on the Bell Hill claims is scheduled to begin in April 2021. The company has already obtained exploration permits. 

Operating Costs were Developed Based on:

• Estimated labor requirements for an effective plant operation
• Power and fuel from equipment power rating and estimated machinery usage
• Reagent consumption rates
• Wear, maintenance, and other consumables
• Support equipment usage values

Labor rates for the facility were taken from similar industry sector plants in North America, with burden rates based on communications with a recruitment firm in Colorado. Electrical power rates, fuel costs, and water rates were supplied by the specific utility provider for each service. Crushing and grinding consumables are based on the work-index of the feed material. Reagent consumptions are calculated directly from the best laboratory results, with unit costs provided by chemical suppliers. Natural gas consumption is computed from the drying requirements for both tails and product. Maintenance and other consumables are scaled from process plant equipment costs and maintenance labor, respectively. Support equipment requirements and annualized costs are best estimates based on facilities of this size and scope. Mining costs were developed on known industry standards for underground contractors providing similar commercial services.

Expansion

If exploration drilling proves successful, it would be possible to expand the process plant capacity. A secondary production circuit, which would be a mirror image of the primary production circuit, can be installed, resulting in a 100 percent fluorspar production increase. Financial analysis indicates that if the expansion is scheduled in production year five, the resultant project revenue is expected to increase from $40 million/yr to $80 million/yr from year five thereafter. The company is also currently negotiating for 60 acres of industrial land in Utah for its expansion projects.

“Completing the conceptual mine plan is the largest step the company has taken towards its production goals. We now have a roadmap considering every crucial component necessary to expand the existing mine into one of the world’s notable global fluorspar producers, as well as the only producer in the United States,” said James Walker, president and CEO.

“In tandem with these plans the company will launch its metallurgical lumps operation to achieve early operation and revenue. The company has enormous support from both government — due to its Critical Mineral status — and private financial institutions, as well as huge interest in its products from industry, both domestic and international,” added Walker.

In 2018 the U.S. government classified fluorspar as a critical mineral, “deemed critical to U.S. national security and the economy”. Fluorspar remains the only non-metallic critical mineral which is 100 percent imported in the entire country. Fluorspar’s classification as a critical mineral in the United States translates to a faster permitting period, enabling mining operations to initiate more quickly than operations for conventional minerals.

About Ares Strategic Mining
Ares Strategic Mining Inc., a junior natural resource mining company, acquires and explores for fluorspar properties. It focuses on the exploitation, production, and supply of metspar and acidspar. The company owns a 100 percent interest in the Lost Sheep Fluoride Mine that consists of 67 claims spanning 1,447 acres located in western Utah, the United States; and the Liard Fluorspar property located in British Columbia. It also holds interest in the Jackpot Lake property that comprises 140 mineral claims covering an area of 2,800 acres located in Clark County, Nevada; and 20 percent interest in the Vanadium Ridge property that consists of 20 mining claims covering approximately 5,200 acres situated in close proximity to Kamloops, British Columbia. Ares Strategic Mining Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

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