Ares Strategic Mining is currently excited and eager for the Lost Sheep Mine to go into production. Their vision for that project is bold – they believe they can grow to a point where they can supply between 15 to 20 per cent of US requirements from that mine alone. At the same time, the vision doesn’t end there. According to James, their team has already started talking about expansion. “We want to try to open up more fluorspar mines across the US,” he says. “We’ve already started scoping other sites. We don’t want to say where they are just yet, but there are a couple of other sites where we have all the data.” “That’s exciting,” he adds, “because there are no other fluorspar producers in the United States. There’s no domestic competition. No one A great position “We approached Keith at the start, and thankfullyhesaidyes,” James says. “He brought with him all of his mining engineers, all of his labourers, all of his contacts – he brought in some excellent, extremely qualified people. He’s been an invaluable asset during the development stages of the project.” The company’s CFO, Viktoriya Griffin, has also been a key contributor, James says. She’s a dedicated and knowledgeable Chartered Accountant with over a decade of experience in her field. She started with the company doing their books part time, but her contribution was so important that they soon asked her to join in a larger role. “All the grants, all the financials – she’s put it all together,” James says. “She’s been fantastic. She’s probably going to bring in more money into the project than me eventually. She deserves a lot of thanks.” James is also thankful for the company’s investors, with whom he has built very strong personal relationships: “The vast majority have been incredibly supportive,” he says. “They’ve had a lot of faith in the long-term strength of the project. Even when we’ve bumped into regulation holdups, they’ve been incredibly patient and allowed us to work through them.” “Normally in a junior mining company, when you experience hold-ups, it creates a lot of nervousness,” he continues. “But we put out a lot of news, we kept everyone updated, I made myself available to answer questions – and we received a lot of loyalty in return. People trusted that once we got things going the stock would really jump, and that did happen.” DECEMBER 2023 THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE AMERICA - WEST
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