USA News Group
Commentary
Issued on behalf of Ares Strategic
Mining Inc.
VANCOUVER, BC, May 1, 2024
/CNW/ -- In an effort to bolster the domestic supply chain for
critical minerals and materials, the Biden Administration
recently announced a $17.5-million
investment to develop more affordable, sustainable production
processes throughout the USA. The
announcement came just days after the Center for Strategic &
International Studies's (CSIS) Project on Critical Minerals
Security launch, meant to build the resilient supply chains needed
for national, economic, and energy security. These initiatives are
meant to build out a more robust supply of the 50 mineral
commodities within the current United States Critical Materials
List, each representing materials essential to economic and
national security, however, for 43 of these critical minerals, the
USA imports more than half of its
supply. The mining industry is pushing forward to develop these
types of commodities with miners making progress, including Ares
Strategic Mining Inc. (CSE: ARS) (OTCQX: ARSMF), MP
Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP), Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE-A:
UUUU) (TSX: EFR), Arcadium Lithium plc (NYSE: ALTM),
and Freeport-McMoran Inc. (NYSE: FCX).
Among the more overlooked commodities on the critical minerals
list is fluorspar, the only non-metallic commodity on the list
that's 100% imported into the USA—according to the USGS.
This lesser-known miner plays an important role in the green energy
solution, given its wide use within the lithium-ion battery supply
chain, as it's important in the manufacturing of lithium-ion
battery electrolytes, cathode, anode and separator bindings, as
well in the processing of natural graphite.
However, there is a new domestic fluorspar supply in the horizon
in the form of Ares Strategic Mining Inc.'s (CSE:ARS)
(OTC:ARSMF) Lost Sheep Fluorspar Project, located in Utah. Consisting of 353 claims spanning a
5,982-acre area, the Lost Sheep Mine is in the process of
construction towards commercial production. Back in March,
Ares announced the completion of its mine planning, and the
commencement of its mine's installation construction.
"Seeing the project get closer to production is extremely
encouraging and motivating," said James
Walker, President and CEO of Ares. "The visually
confirmed fluorspar mineralization from the current drill program
was an unexpected bonus and provided us with still further
confidence in our upcoming operation. The ramp currently under
construction is the biggest development towards the largest
fluorspar operation ever seen at the Spor Mountain Range, which has
almost 100 years of mining history. The Company and its staff are
excited at the tangible near-term and long-term prospects and are
looking forward to commencing operations and being the only
domestic supplier of metspar and acidspar in the United States."
This progress comes months after Ares closed a
$10.5-million financing, using the
funds to complete the full payment to the plant manufacturer to
begin fabrication. The company's ongoing diamond drilling program
has assisted Ares' technical staff to define the extents of
fluorspar mineralization and has aided in delineating the placement
and design of ramps to facilitate mining operations scheduled for
later in 2024.
Another critical required for the ongoing energy transition are
rare earth magnets, which are expected to see global demand grow
five-fold by 2040. Currently the most promising domestic project is
being developed by MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP), which is
already producing magnet precursor materials in a North American
pilot facility. Recently, MP received a $58.5 million award to advance its construction
of the USA's first
fully-integrated rare earth magnet manufacturing facility in
Fort Worth, Texas. As part of a
Section 48C Advanced Energy Project tax credit allocation
administered by the Department of Energy, MP
Materials is set to apply the funds to the manufacturing
facility which began construction in April
2022, and expects to commence commercial production of
precursor materials this summer, and finished magnets by late
2025.
MP has already secured a buyer, as it sets off to supply
these products to General Motors, to support its North
American EV production. MP will obtain the raw materials for
the factory from its rare earth mine and separation facility in
Mountain Pass, California—the only large-scale and operational site
of its kind in the U.S.
"[In 2023] we exceeded 40,000 tons of REO production for the
third consecutive year, achieved first production and sales of
NdPr, and added substantial depth to our team and capability set,"
said James Litinsky, Chairman and
CEO of MP Materials. "Our magnetics division completed
construction in Fort Worth and
began trial production of rare earth metal."
Wanting to make its mark as a global leader in critical mineral
production with a focus on uranium, rare earth elements and heavy
mineral sands, Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE-A: UUUU) (TSX: EFR)
recently announced the acquisition of Base Resources Limited
for $240 million to create an
enhanced critical minerals company. Key to the deal is Base
Resources' world-class, advanced-stage, low-cost and
large-scale Toliara heavy mineral sands project.
"The acquisition of Base Resources and the Toliara project
represents a monumental leap forward for the Company, as we
continue to execute on a truly revolutionary REE, uranium and
critical mineral combined strategy," said Mark S. Chalmers, President and CEO of Energy
Fuels. "For the past four-plus years, Energy Fuels has
innovated a new way to produce critical minerals, that we believe
is more cost competitive than traditional approaches, by leveraging
our uranium processing expertise and infrastructure to develop a
secure, U.S.-centric REE oxide supply chain."
Once in production, the Monazite from Toliara will provide a
large portion of the raw materials needed for Energy Fuels'
rapidly expanding and world-competitive REE oxide production
facility at its Mill in Utah. The
acquisition bolsters Energy Fuels' core US-based uranium
business, while also providing an additional steady, low-cost
source of uranium from Toliara itself over the life of the
project.
While not a solely-domestic source, Arcadium Lithium plc
(NYSE: ALTM) continues to aim for dominance as a provider of
lithium, after its historic merger between Allkem and
Livent earlier this year. Through its full calendar year of
2023, Arcadium's combined company revenues were $2.0 billion on a pro forma basis. Among the
combined company's projects include the potential James Bay project in Quebec, Canada, which is touted as a
sustainable, hard-rock operation, that will maximize the usage of
renewable energy.
"We are excited to officially begin operating as Arcadium
Lithium, leveraging the strengths of two highly complementary
organizations and continuing to grow as one of the leading
producers of lithium chemicals globally," said Paul Graves, President and CEO of Arcadium
Lithium. "As a larger, more diversified and vertically
integrated company, we are better positioned to meet the needs of
our customers and have even greater flexibility to take advantage
of opportunities available throughout market cycles."
Perhaps one of the most well-recognized of the critical minerals
list is copper, which is the specialty of mining giant
Freeport-McMoran Inc. (NYSE: FCX) that boasts several large
mining projects including one of the world's largest copper and
gold deposits in Indonesia, but
also significant operations in North
America and South America,
including the large-scale Morenci
minerals district in Arizona.
"Market fundamentals for copper are positive, supported by
copper's increasingly important role in the global economy and
limited available supplies to meet growing demand," said
Kathleen L. Quirk, President of
Freeport in the company's
latest financial report. "Freeport is strongly positioned for the
future as a leading producer of copper with multiple options for
future growth and an experienced team with a track record of
accomplishment."
Quirk is set to succeed current Freeport CEO Richard Adkerson, who is stepping down after a
20-year tenure. But before his departure, Adkerson is strongly
encouraging the US government to improve its mine permitting
process if it hopes to boost domestic supplies of critical
minerals.
"The U.S. government needs to stop giving lip service to
permitting," said Richard Adkerson
at the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston, as reported by Reuters. "The
question is, given our political system that we have today and the
dysfunctionality of it, how do you go from getting a project
verbally accepted to getting actions done?"
Earlier in the conference, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm stated to the audience that
she supported efforts in the U.S. Congress to reform the country's
mining laws, some of which were first approved in the 19th
Century.
Article Source:
https://usanewsgroup.com/2024/04/29/this-company-is-bringing-essential-mining-back-to-the-u-s-fueled-by-government-action/
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