With fluorspar having recently been named a critical mineral in Canada, the US and Europe, ASX- and TSX-V-listed Mont Royal Resources continues to reaffirm the potential of its Ashram rare earths and fluorspar project, in Québec.

The company sees significant opportunity for fluorspar as a byproduct through continued development of the Ashram deposit.

This comes amid rapidly evolving market dynamics for fluorspar, with China shifting to being a net importer of the critical mineral, driven by surging industrial and downstream demand.

Ashram is believed to contain one of the largest known resources of calcium fluoride among companies listed on the ASX and TSX-V, with a 73.2-million tonnes indicated mineral resource grading 6.6% calcium fluoride, and an additional 131-million tonnes of inferred mineral resources grading 4% calcium fluoride.

Metallurgical testwork done on the project in 2020 delivered a 98% calcium fluoride, or acid-spar, concentrate.

Mont Royal is undertaking additional fluorspar testwork to support the addition of a fluorspar circuit in an upcoming prefeasibility study, while a preliminary economic assessment will soon be published for the rare earths side of the Ashram project.

MD Nicholas Holthouse comments that the metallurgical testwork completed in 2020 has already demonstrated the potential for the contained fluorspar from the Ashram deposit to be successfully upgraded to a saleable fluorspar concentrate product.

"With the contained resources of fluorspar at Ashram, along with reliable grade consistency within the resource, we see a compelling opportunity to develop a valuable secondary revenue stream for the project, alongside and complementing rare earths production.

"In recent months, capital markets have woken up to fluorspar, with market dynamics strengthening considerably, supported by its growing importance across high-technology, medical, and industrial applications. The Ashram project has the potential to become a major fluorspar supplier to North America and European industries, with Québec's aluminium industries alone consuming about 150 000 t to 200 000 t of calcium fluoride every year.  

"Despite being the world's largest producer, China has recently become a net importer of fluorspar, particularly for high-purity hydrofluoric acid used in semiconductors. This has created a structural squeeze on ex-China inventories, which bodes well for future fluorite prices and for ex-China developers like Mont Royal,” Holthouse concludes.