What Ares Strategic Mining does

Ares Strategic Mining Inc. is a publicly traded junior mining company that owns and operates the Lost Sheep Mine — the only currently permitted fluorspar mine in the United States — located in the Spor Mountain area of Juab County, Utah, across 5,982 acres and 353 mining claims. The company's core technology stack is conventional underground mining and mineral processing: ore extraction, crushing, sorting, and flotation-based concentration to produce metallurgical-grade fluorspar (metspar, 60–96% CaF2) for steel and aluminum applications, and acid-grade fluorspar (acidspar, +97% CaF2) for hydrofluoric acid, fluorochemicals, semiconductor, nuclear, and defense end-markets. Ares is also pursuing gallium and germanium byproduct recovery through partnerships with Iowa State University/Ames National Laboratory and Found Industries' Direct Feedstock Extraction electrochemical technology, leveraging the same ore body to enter adjacent critical-mineral markets.

The business model centers on direct government and industrial offtake rather than spot commodity sales. Ares has secured a five-year IDIQ contract with the U.S. Department of Defense via the Defense Logistics Agency, with an initial award value of $168.9M and a total ceiling of up to $250M, establishing it as the sole domestic supplier of acid-grade fluorspar to the U.S. government for national stockpile and defense applications. Secondary distribution is being developed through direct industrial offtake agreements with U.S. steel, aluminum, fluorochemical, semiconductor, and nuclear energy customers. Mining operations became active in February 2026 with ore stockpiling at surface, and processing facility infrastructure (conveyor belt, Motor Control Center, acidspar flotation plant) was completed in May 2026; the company remains pre-revenue as of mid-2026.

The company is publicly listed on the CSE (ARS), FRA (N8I1), and OTCQX (ARSMF), headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, with approximately 267.8 million shares outstanding and an implied market valuation of roughly $75M. Capital structure reflects ~$25M raised across 2023-2026 via private placements, a US$11M non-dilutive Utah state loan, and a US$100M SEC base shelf filing, with management/insiders committing ~$990K in June 2026. Leadership consists of CEO James Walker, CFO Viktoriya Griffin, and a recently established investor relations function under Mykel James. Ares is actively preparing for a Nasdaq Capital Market uplisting to broaden U.S. institutional access.

Name

Ares Strategic Mining

Legal name

Ares Strategic Mining Inc.

Website

https://aresmining.com

Company type

Public

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Ares Strategic Mining owns and operates the Lost Sheep Mine, the only permitted fluorspar mine in the United States, producing acid-grade and metallurgical-grade fluorspar under a five-year, up-to-$250 million U.S. Department of Defense supply contract. It serves federal stockpile and domestic industrial customers in steel, aluminum, semiconductor, and defense supply chains.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Industrial Minerals (Fluorspar Mining)

NAICS

Other Nonmetallic Mineral Mining and Quarrying (212390)

SIC

Mining & Quarrying Of Nonmetallic Minerals (No Fuels) (1400)

akta.pro primary industry

Fluorspar (Fluorite) Mining (IMAKAGAM)

akta.pro secondary industry

Surface Mine Development & Pre-Strip (Earthworks, Overburden Removal, Haul Roads) (IMAKAOAD)

Keywords

• Fluorspar mining
• Critical minerals supply
• Industrial mineral processing
• Metallurgical grade fluorspar
• Acid grade fluorspar

Headquarters

HQ city

Vancouver

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Infrastructure, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Fluorspar Mining and Processing: Ares Strategic Mining will generate revenue through the mining and processing of fluorspar ore from its Lost Sheep Mine, producing metallurgical grade (metspar) and acid-grade (acidspar) fluorspar for sale to domestic industrial customers and the U.S. government. As of mid-2026, the company remains pre-revenue and is actively advancing toward sustained commercial production.
2. U.S. Department of Defense Fluorspar Supply Contract: Ares was awarded a five-year IDIQ (Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity) contract by the U.S. Department of Defense through the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) with an estimated initial award value of $168,938,267.30 and a total contract ceiling of up to $250 million. Under this contract, Ares will supply acid-grade fluorspar to the U.S. government as the sole domestic supplier, supporting national stockpiles of strategic and critical minerals.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Ares Strategic Mining operates the Lost Sheep Mine — the only permitted fluorspar mine in the United States — producing metallurgical-grade (metspar) and acid-grade (acidspar) fluorspar from a 5,982-acre property in Juab County, Utah. The company runs a vertically integrated mine-to-customer platform that includes on-site Lumps and Acidspar Flotation Plants for ore concentration, supplying domestic defense and industrial customers and evaluating gallium and germanium by-product recovery from the same ore body.

Product overview

Ares Strategic Mining is a mining and manufacturing company operating the only permitted fluorspar mine in the United States. The company operates a vertically integrated critical minerals platform through its Lost Sheep Mine and processing facilities in Utah. The core product portfolio includes metallurgical-grade fluorspar (metspar) and acid-grade fluorspar (acidspar) produced at the Lumps Plant and Acidspar Flotation Plant. Recent discoveries of germanium and gallium in the ore have expanded the product offering to include evaluation of these critical technology metals. The company has secured a $250 million IDIQ contract with the U.S. Department of Defense to supply acidspar.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Lost Sheep Mine
• Lost Sheep Fluorspar Processing Facility
• Lumps Plant
• Acidspar Flotation Plant
• Acid-Grade Fluorspar (Acidspar)
• Metallurgical-Grade Fluorspar (Metspar)

Quantifiable outcome

• U.S. Department of Defense IDIQ contract awarded with $168.9M initial value and $250M ceiling over five years, establishing Ares as sole domestic fluorspar supplier to the federal government
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Pivotal CM LimitedminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 5 June 2026Ares renewed its engagement with Pivotal CM Limited on June 5, 2026. Pivotal CM Limited supports Ares's investor communications, digital strategy, marketing initiatives, shareholder engagement, website management, conference organization, content development, and advertising campaigns. Approximately US$356,250 of services will be satisfied through the issuance of common shares (approximately 1.76 million shares) under the renewed arrangement.
• Found Industries (Found Metals)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 12 May 2026Found Industries (through its Found Metals division) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Ares Strategic Mining on May 12, 2026 to evaluate the recovery of gallium, germanium, and other strategic critical materials from feedstocks associated with the Lost Sheep Mine in Utah. Found Metals will apply its proprietary Direct Feedstock Extraction (resin-free electrochemical) technology to assess opportunities for critical metals recovery from Ares-controlled ore. The initial phase focuses on technical evaluation, feedstock assessment, process integration concepts, and preliminary analysis for future piloting and joint commercialization. Early work is partially supported by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts through its InnovateMass program.
• Iowa State University and Ames National LaboratorycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 31 July 2025Ares Strategic Mining launched a collaborative research program with Iowa State University (ISU) and Ames National Laboratory on July 31, 2025 to develop new techniques to extract gallium from fluorspar ore. The partnership involves materials analysis to identify and recover high-value critical metals present in the Lost Sheep deposit. The initiative supports Ares's strategy to expand beyond fluorspar into multi-critical mineral production.

Scale indicators14 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Canada Fluorspar Inc. Privately held Canadian fluorspar producer historically active in St. Lawrence, Newfoundland — a like-for-like competitor in the North American fluorspar industry with overlapping customer markets.
• Tertiary Minerals plc: AIM-listed strategic-minerals exploration and development company with a primary focus on fluorspar assets in Scandinavia. Directly comparable to Ares as a small-cap, publicly listed fluorspar developer competing for capital in the same end market.

Emerging players

• USA Rare Earth LLC: Privately held U.S. rare earths and critical-minerals developer focused on domestic supply chain independence. Comparable as a U.S.-anchored critical-mineral developer pursuing strategic-minerals funding and offtake in the same policy environment.
• Perpetua Resources Corp. U.S. antimony-gold developer with a similar 'U.S. critical mineral for defense applications' positioning, including offtake relationships with U.S. government-adjacent customers. Closely analogous pre-revenue junior-miner trajectory and policy-driven thesis.

Broad incumbents

• MP Materials Corp. U.S. rare earths producer with a parallel 'domestic critical minerals for national security' thesis, defense-aligned offtake, and U.S. policy tailwinds. Not a direct product overlap with fluorspar, but highly comparable as a public-market proxy for the 'rebuild U.S. critical-mineral supply chains' narrative Ares is positioning into.
• Compass Minerals International: U.S.-headquartered diversified specialty mineral mining and salt producer with U.S. operations and infrastructure. Comparable as a publicly listed U.S.-domiciled specialty-mineral producer, though not fluorspar-specific.
• Orbia Advance Corporation (Mexichem): Mexico-headquartered global fluorochemicals and fluorite producer and one of the world's largest fluorspar miners. Comparable as a vertically integrated incumbent in the same commodity chain, though operating at vastly larger scale and broader downstream integration.
• Energy Fuels Inc. U.S.-based critical-minerals producer (uranium, vanadium and rare earths) with federal contract positioning. Comparable as a U.S.-listed company monetizing critical-minerals policy and government demand — analogous commercial structure to Ares's DoD IDIQ-backed model.

Regional players

• SepFluor Limited: South Africa-based vertically integrated fluorspar producer supplying acidspar and metspar globally. Comparable on commodity and processing model but serves different geographies; a useful benchmark on operating economics in the fluorspar space.

Others

• Honeywell International Inc. Major downstream industrial consumer of acidspar / hydrofluoric acid for refrigerants and fluorochemicals. Not a mining peer but a key downstream demand node whose procurement behavior influences fluorspar pricing and contracting terms — relevant contextual reference for Ares's industrial offtake strategy.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/aressmining
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@aresstrategicmining
• Facebookfacebook.com/aresstrategicmining
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/aresmining
• Instagraminstagram.com/aresmining
• TikToktiktok.com/@aresmining

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Subsidiaries3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds4 records

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Ares Strategic Mining