Found Industries and ARES sign MOU to develop domestic recovery of gallium, germanium, and fluorspar in Utah.

Found Industries and ARES Strategic Mining have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to evaluate the recovery of critical metals including gallium, germanium, and fluorspar from the Lost Sheep Mine in Utah, the only permitted fluorspar mine in the U.S. This collaboration aims to enhance North American supply chains for key technology metals vital to semiconductors, defense, and energy sectors. Found Industries will test its proprietary electrochemical extraction technology to potentially enable industrial-scale production of these metals. The project is supported by the Massachusetts InnovateMass program and could transform the Lost Sheep Mine into a multi-metal critical materials platform, reducing reliance on foreign sources, especially China.