OD6 appoints US permitting specialist to advance Nevada fluorspar project
Our US critical minerals Investment OD6 Metals (ASX: OD6) has just appointed permitting consultants for its fluorspar project in the USA.
OD6’s project produced fluorspar back in the 1950s, but hasn’t had any modern exploration done on it in years.
(~26,000 tonnes @ 44.9% fluorite from a small-scale open pit on the side of a hill),
Since March, OD6 has mapped an ~8km mineralised corridor across three structures with samples grading up to 94% CaF₂.
Then OD6 acquired old data and found:
- The previous project owner Union Carbide from back in the 50’s had drilled 4 holes.
- Plus done a bunch of other work on OD6's project.
- This showed ‘exceptional high grade & near surface fluorspar mineralisation’. (source)
We Invested in OD6 because it was the first ASX-listed small cap with a pure-play fluorspar asset inside US borders AND because we think there is a window of opportunity to bring a fluorspar project into production in the US with support from funding out of the US.
We think that with where OD6’s project is any fast-tracked permitting could be a game changer for OD6:
(source)
Fast-tracked permitting to open US funding opportunities?
Today’s appointment brings in a top-tier US permitting consultant with deep US Forest Service (USFS), NEPA and FAST-41 experience:
(source)
The reason the fast-tracked permitting matters is because that was a big part of the reason why the Pentagon gave a US$250M contract to a Canadian small cap - Ares Mining.
(source)
The only reason Ares received that funding was because its the only fully-permitted, ready-to-restart fluorspar mine in the United States.
Ares' project in Utah is currently designated as the sole domestic supplier of acid-grade fluorspar to the US government. (source)
Ares is now capped at ~A$71M and that contract for up to US$250M from the Pentagon is worth potentially ~3.5x its market cap.
The interesting part is the way the contract is structured. The Department of War orders the product as Ares delivers it.
No acidspar produced = no payment.
We think that now OD6 can show its metwork results and put itself in the conversation as an alternative domestic supplier of fluorspar…
AND maybe… the Department of War could issue a similar contract to OD6.
It’s hard to see the DoW put all its eggs in one basket (which is one small Canadian listed company) for the supply of a critical mineral that it is 100% reliant on imports for.
We already know OD6’s assets produced fluorspar back in the 1950s.
We also know OD6 has historic drill results that are right up there with Ares’ too:
And now we know material from OD6’s project can be processed into acid-spar grade fluorspar:
(source)
In an announcement last month, OD6’s Managing Director commented on the exact thing we are talking about how proving OD6 could produce acidspar…
...COULD mean OD6 can apply to the White House for FAST41 status for its project:
(source)
FAST-41 is a special accelerated USA permitting and development framework for projects considered “critical” and essential for US national security. (more on Fast-41 status here)
Only ~50 projects have been awarded FAST-41 status by the US government since the program's inception in 2015.
At a very high level its a program designed to cut red rape and get projects online to reduce US reliance on foreign adversaries for the supply of critical minerals.
Especially during times of war.
We think that any US government engagement OR FAST-41 status could be a game changer for OD6.
Permitting will also open up OD6's first-ever drilling program
Everything OD6 has shown so far, being the 8km corridor, the channel sampling, the 94% surface grades, the rediscovered Big Jim lode - is surface and historic evidence.
(source)
The project has never been drilled in modern times, so the first drill program here will show us just what is underneath the surface..
There was some historic drilling which OD6 recently found, but this was for only 4 holes and assayed down to around 30m only, the grades were high, but will need confirmation.
Quinn sits on US federal land, and you don't get to drill there without working through the USFS permitting process first - which is exactly the bottleneck WestLand has been brought in to manage.
The approach OD6 is taking is "front-end loading" - doing the slow regulatory groundwork initially at a high level, so it can then keep reusing it:
- Biological and cultural baseline surveys are being completed now, and are expected to be valid for up to 10 years - so the same data supports drill permitting AND any future mining permits
- The requisite Pre-Plan Letter was already submitted in May 2026
- OD6 is targeting a Categorical Exclusion (CE) - the streamlined pathway for low-impact exploration (under ~1 mile of new access road, under ~5 acres of disturbance) - to get the maiden drilling program approved in the near term
- In parallel, an expanded Plan of Operations (POO) is being prepared (under an Environmental Assessment) to enable bigger step-out drilling later
- Bulk sampling permits are also planned, to feed metallurgical testwork and flowsheet optimisation
The whole point is to avoid duplicating studies and overall compressing the total timeline from exploration through to potential development.
There's also some notable progress on the US government angle…
Previously OD6 had only flagged it could apply for FAST-41 status once acid-grade production was proven.
Today's announcement confirms an initial discussion with a FAST-41 representative has actually taken place (with the FAST-41 Transparency program flagged as most applicable for now):
(source)
FAST-41 is the US framework that coordinates federal approvals and sets defined permitting timelines for strategic projects, so even early engagement is a step in the right direction.
So bringing on WestLand could improve OD6's pathway, although we note that it doesn't guarantee approvals or timelines and there could still be delays.
And the bigger risk sits one step further out: OD6 has never drilled here, every grade so far is surface, historic or visual.
Most investors at this end of the market will have been burnt by "drilling into a hillside with surface mineralisation" before - there's always a chance OD6 drilling reveals shallow mineralisation.
So this is the precedent we keep coming back to for what a proven US fluorspar project could one day attract (again, no guarantees, just that the parallels are there at this early stage).
This makes today's permitting and FAST-41 groundwork more than just paperwork, as it's OD6 positioning itself inside the same framework Washington is using to fast-track strategic supply chains.
We covered OD6's recent run of progress (including the Big Jim rediscovery and the historic dataset) in our most recent article here: OD6: Pulls out “exceptional high grade fluorspar mineralisation from surface” card.
What's next for OD6?
🔄Complete the acquisition of its US fluorspar project
We want to see OD6 complete the acquisition of the US fluorspar project. This will give it full unencumbered access to help it progress the asset.
Milestones:
- 🔄 Due diligence process completed
- 🔲 Option to acquire exercised
- 🔲 Acquisition completed
🔄 Target generation for US fluorspar project
We want to see OD6 sample in and around the old workings on its project, run some geophysics and generate high priority drill targets ahead of its maiden drilling program.
Milestones:
- ✅ Rock chips
- ✅ Channel sampling
- ✅ Historic drill results
- ✅ Metallurgical testwork showing OD6’s material can be processed to acid-spar grades.
- 🔄 NEW: Digitisation of scanned paper maps and cross-sections into a 3D geological model
- 🔄 Soil/channel sampling
- 🔲 Geophysics
- 🔲 Drill targets generated
OD6 has taken samples which will be sent to Tomra in Germany to progress met testwork to verify and hopefully expand on the historic works, so we wait for an update on when this gets underway. (source)
🔲Strategic / Government Engagement for fluorspar in the US
- 🔲 Engage with US Department of War, Department of Energy, or DLA regarding domestic fluorspar supply
- 🔲 Explore strategic partnerships or offtake discussions
