Three advanced and drill-to-resource prospects are set to be aggressively tested as OD6 Metals (ASX: OD6) gears up to drill the highest priority targets at its 4,670 acre Quinn Fluorspar project in Nevada – the world’s best mining jurisdiction – which has an 8km fertile mineralised corridor with over 20 significant fluorspar occurrences in what could be a gigantic epithermal system. The Horseshoe prospect has historic intercepts such as 14.3m at 70.9% CaF₂ from surface including 1.5m at 84% CaF₂, along with 26,000t of prior production. It recently recorded channel samples of 50m at 63.9% CaF₂ with peak values up to 82% CaF₂, and is connected by a 1.5km long high-intensity alteration zone to Big Jim, which has 230m of historical workings that are open to the north and south, with prolific mineralisation throughout including a massive vein with grades above 98% CaF₂. Mammoth adds a broad 9,000m² mineralised footprint with channel results including 15.2m at 48% CaF₂, while Blue Bell returned 86.7% CaF₂ from its main vein and produced the clearest preliminary ore-sorting response. Quinn has demonstrated exemplary metallurgical characteristics and processing amenability, with ultra-low impurities supporting premium acidspar (>97% CaF₂) – and yesterday’s ore sorting results showed clear ore-waste separation at Horseshoe, Big Jim, and Blue Bell – while returning 98.3% CaF₂ by head assay and 98.6% fluorite by QXRD at Big Jim before any further processing. The project could also host significant gold upside, with recent rock-chip sampling returning 6.31g/t, 2.74g/t and 2.23g/t Au. Despite fluorspar being essential for semiconductor manufacturing, lithium-ion battery production, uranium enrichment and a litany of defence applications – the US is 100% net import reliant on it, and 94% of global production is concentrated amongst China, Mongolia, Mexico and South Africa. OD6 currently trades at just under a $38 million market cap, compared to its two most relevant peer comparisons, C$108 million Ares Strategic Mining (CSE: ARS) and $660 million Tivan (ASX:TVN).

The few Western developers with plausible near term production potential are benefiting from very attractive financing arrangements while commanding significant valuations and OD6 could be one targeted drilling campaign away from being in the same position. A key peer comparison is ARS, which currently has an EV of C$132 million after attaining over C$34 million in state and federal loans and a US$250 million Department of War supply agreement to start mining its Utah fluorspar project. It is pre-resource and pre-feasibility study, but is a historically producing asset that has relatively solid metallurgical testwork and will supply around 13% of the USA’s demand – leaving a gigantic gap that OD6 is perfectly suited to fill. ARS has begun the process of ramping up to a 50ktpa production rate, and OD6 could at the very least consider a near term 20ktpa metspar operation that would add acidspar into the mix not long after.

There is also $660 million market cap TVN, which has an effective 79.9% interest in the Speewah Fluorspar Project alongside Japan Fluorite Corporation (Sumitomo/JOGMEC, 15%) and ETFS Capital (5.1%), with the project hosting 43.2Mt at 8.3% CaF₂, with a feasibility study from March outlining A$301m pre-production capex, a A$344m post-tax NPV₈, 29% IRR and over a 10-year mine life – a project that is viable despite its low grade. Again, if OD6’s drilling campaign proves a larger scale, bulk tonnage epithermal system rather than predominantly higher grade veins – it could potentially start to be referred to as a higher grade TVN.

Horseshoe and Big Jim provide the strongest evidence that Quinn could host considerably more than a collection of isolated high-grade fluorspar veins. Horseshoe is a shallow replacement-style body mapped across 3,000m² and estimated to be 20 to 30m thick – but is open up-dip, down-dip and at depth. Historic drilling was completed before the 26kt open pit exposed its high-grade core, several sections were unassayed, while holes terminated in veined or fractured material, with the underlying footwall breccia also remaining untested. Further intercepts include 14m at 59.9% CaF₂ and 25.8m at 46.2% CaF₂, including 12.8m at 60.9% CaF₂. Big Jim sits within the same broader corridor and comprises an approximately 2m-thick shallow-dipping lode traced by historic mine plans over 230m, with its 27.8% CaF₂ footwall breccia providing additional mineralised width beneath the exceptionally high-grade main vein. Importantly, the 1.5km corridor between Horseshoe and Big Jim contains intense pyrophyllite, alunite-dickite and phyllic alteration, jasperoid replacement and a 70,000m² lithocap, all consistent with a substantial epithermal cell and raising the possibility that the known deposits represent separate expressions of a much larger stratigraphically controlled mineralised system.

The preliminary TOMRA ore-sorting program tested 166kg across 11 representative ore, waste and dilution samples, with 5-12mm material assessed using laser and XRT sorting. Head assays returned 98.3% CaF₂ at Big Jim, 90% and 76.2% at Horseshoe, 86.7% at Blue Bell and 40.4% at Mammoth, independently supported by QXRD values of 98.6%, 90.4%, 91.6% and 48.5% fluorite respectively, with fluorite identified as the only fluorine-bearing mineral and very low levels of deleterious elements. TOMRA clearly separated ore from waste at Big Jim, Horseshoe and Blue Bell, potentially enabling coarse waste rejection and upgrading towards metspar before energy-intensive flotation for acidspar, while Mammoth remains primarily a bulk-flotation target. Larger 500 to 1,000kg trials will now quantify mass rejection, grade uplift and recovery.

The company has delivered on a number of key catalysts since the acquisition of Quinn, which have included finalising 100% ownership of the project, expanding it to 226 mining claims covering 1,890 hectares, isolating mineralisation controls that display district scale epithermal potential, conducting extensive channel sampling to broaden the mineralised footprint and demonstrate continuity in the lead up to drilling, progress mineralogy and processing studies, consolidating historical data into modern geological models to refine and prioritise drill targets, with drill permitting already underway.

The acquisition in March and subsequent newsflow, combined with initiation of coverage by Next Investors, pushed OD6’s valuation all the way to $66.64 million market cap and $62.64 million enterprise value in late April, which was equivalent to $82.74 million market cap and $71.82 million enterprise value when factoring in the 10c options that were yet to be exercised at the time. OD6 currently trades at $0.13/share for an undiluted market cap of $37.88 million with $3.2 million in cash, despite a consistent delivery of value-adding and de-risking newsflow that led to our initiation of coverage.

The hub and spoke processing operation that OD6 is planning could see the company earn a significant valuation premium if it can acquire a mill and further bolster near term production potential. Our other portfolio company American Tungsten & Antimony (ASX: AT4)’s recent acquisition of a Nevada antimony refinery and mine had an upfront acquisition cost of about $46.7m, which in the days that followed drove its market cap from $73m to $230m when adjusting for dilution – an increase of roughly A$157m. OD6 is actively assessing M&A opportunities in regional infrastructure, which would act as a key catalyst for revaluation.

Nevada and Utah are two brilliant mining jurisdictions in the US – AT4 has had extraordinary success in both of these states. It’s not just mine permitting that is advantageous, but financing as well – and the critical minerals agenda of the federal government flows through to the states, to the benefit of explorers and developers.

Before ARS landed the blockbuster 5 year US DoD/DoW contract that got the market interested in fluorspar – which was composed of an initial award of US$168.9 million and a total ceiling of up to US$250 million through future task orders – ARS got freshly legislated funding from the state. The Utah State Legislature and the Utah Community Impact Board (CIB) approved a US$11 million loan to accelerate the development of its fluorspar and gallium mine, with incredibly attractive terms of a 7 year loan period at 4.5% annual interest and no repayments for the first 3 years. ARS reached a peak of C$200 million market cap and C$223 million enterprise value in October last year as speculation of federal funding swirled.

Given that Quinn is a historically producing asset with encouraging modern processing testwork in a fantastic mining jurisdiction, once OD6 conducts a modern drilling campaign to test high priority extensions and validate historical results, it should be right towards the top of the list for US government funding – reinforcing the extremely high impact nature of the maiden campaign. A highly favourable fluorspar horizon continuing across the broader 1.5km Horseshoe/Spar Mine corridor can be seen below, including a 750m concealed target between North Horseshoe Canyon and Big Jim beneath the Eureka Quartzite lithocap:

Source: OD6

The cross-section below shows historic drilling concentrated on the eastern side of an 80 to 100m wide Horseshoe zone, leaving a 20 to 30m thick high-grade body, an underlying breccia of unknown thickness and substantial western and depth extensions untested:

Source: OD6

The plan map below shows Big Jim’s shallow west-dipping lode traced through multiple historic tunnels over approximately 230m of strike, with reported 96-98.6% CaF₂ mineralisation at opposite ends and the system projected to continue north, south and at depth:

Source: OD6

The cross-section below shows Mammoth’s interpreted 50 to 60m true width breccia body extending beneath shallow talus cover to the southeast, while additional fluorspar veining continues into the surrounding footwall limestone:

Source: OD6

The image below shows TOMRA’s laser ore-sorting technology applied to samples from Quinn, with high-grade fluorspar, mixed-grade fluorspar and country-rock waste clearly separated at coarse crush sizes of approximately 10–15mm:

Source: OD6

Fluorspar – Another Critical Mineral Bottleneck Threatening Trillion Dollar Industries

Depending on product type and location, fluorspar concentrates currently trade around US$450–650/t, with acid-grade material typically commanding the higher prices that can reach US$680/t in Western markets like the US and Germany. It is currently a US$4.3 billion market segmented into two key products that serve critical functions in a range of industries. Metspar grades between 60-96% CaF₂ and is predominantly used as a metallurgical flux in steel and aluminium production, while acidspar must be above 97% CaF₂ so it can be processed into the downstream products that feed many modern-demand driven industries. Acidspar is reacted with sulfuric acid to produce HF, which is then used to make most downstream fluorochemicals, including battery electrolyte materials such as LiPF₆, semiconductor chemicals, fluoropolymers, and refrigerants. The US imported 360kt of acidspar in 2025, compared to just 20ktpa of metspar – and it needs domestic sources that can be relied upon.

The lithium-ion battery market is shaping up to be the most important new source of demand, with Benchmark Mineral Intelligence forecasting battery-sector acidspar demand to more than triple to around 1.8Mt by 2030, with EVs representing around 83% of this requirement. Fluorine is required in LiPF₆ electrolyte salts, PVDF binders and coatings, and in HF-based purification of natural graphite. LiPF₆ itself comprises approximately 4.5% lithium, 20.5% phosphorus and 75% fluorine by weight.

Nuclear power is another growing source of fluorspar demand, with fluorine required in the nuclear fuel cycle to convert uranium oxide concentrate into uranium hexafluoride (UF₆) before enrichment, where UF₆ gas is processed through centrifuges and later converted back into uranium dioxide for fuel fabrication. Demand for nuclear fuel is increasing as the US extends the operating lives of existing reactors, advances small modular reactors (SMRs) and rebuilds domestic enrichment capacity. The US DOE committed US$2.7 billion in January solely for expanding enrichment capabilities, and AI power demand is acting as a significant catalyst through initiatives such as Google contracting up to 500MW of new SMR capacity,  and Microsoft supporting the restart of an 835MW nuclear facility in Pennsylvania to help supply its data centres.

Fluorine chemistry is also deeply embedded in semiconductor manufacturing, with tungsten hexafluoride (WF₆) used to deposit conductive tungsten structures in advanced logic, DRAM and 3D NAND chips. Inventories have recently fallen to catastrophically low levels in Japan, and while being immediately driven by tungsten shortages this time, the supply disruption fears were serious enough to threaten semiconductor production and drive WF₆ prices sharply higher – highlighting the flow on effect that this process can have on gigantic critical industries.

Fluorspar mining in China is highly fragmented, with 683 mines across the country, 450 of which produce between 10-50ktpa – while the US hasn’t mined anything since 1995. Stricter mining policy, environmental regulation and safety inspections have forced closures and consolidation of smaller mines across China, and the country is increasingly consuming its highest-value material internally. Its producers predominantly target acidspar, with the chemical industry accounting for around 75% of domestic fluorspar demand, particularly for LiPF₆ and electronic-grade HF and refrigerants. China became a net fluorspar importer in 2018, and Project Blue reported that acidspar exports fell approximately 70% to just 55kt in 2024 as domestic markets were prioritised.

The state funding that ARS received was particularly interesting given there was legislation passed specifically to make this financing available, which should serve as an encouraging signal in terms of the sense of urgency that governments possess in their approach to boosting domestic production of critical minerals. The amendment – SB 187 – took just 57 days to go from formation and public distribution to the governor signing it in, with the funds being delivered two months later. The bill made ARS’ project exempt from the standard economic opportunity and benefit assessments that are typically required by the Utah Government, and allowed the funds to be rapidly disbursed from the Throughput Infrastructure Fund (TIP). This is the exact type of treatment that OD6 could benefit from due to the critical nature of fluorspar, the lack of domestic mining, and Quinn’s potential for acidspar production.

The chart below from BMI illustrates the scale of the emerging battery opportunity for acidspar, and the increasingly important role EVs are expected to play in future demand:

Source: Benchmark Mineral Intelligence

The chart below portrays the structure of China’s fluorspar industry, from its fragmented but prolific mine supply to its downstream prioritisation:

Source: IMFORMED, Michelle Li

The next few weeks will see OD6 submit its drilling permits and finalise its maiden campaign, before a JORC exploration target is released that will quantify the potential size of the opportunity at Quinn. Many key milestones have been hit since March that have bolstered the project, and OD6’s current valuation leaves plenty of room to move up if this campaign can prove a larger system.

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Disclaimer: This article is for informational and marketing purposes only, and does not constitute financial advice or a recommendation to invest. All opinions expressed are our own. We may receive fees or other forms of compensation in connection with the publication of this content, and may own shares in any of the mentioned companies. Please do your own research and seek professional advice before making any investment decisions.