I’ve been digging into companies tied to the U.S. critical minerals supply chain and came across CleanTech Vanadium.
Most people focus on lithium or rare earths, but fluorspar seems to get very little attention despite being the primary commercial source of fluorine.
Fluorine is used in:
Uranium enrichment for nuclear fuel
Semiconductor manufacturing
Lithium-ion batteries
Industrial chemicals and refrigerants
A few recent developments caught my eye:
The company recently announced an 8-hole diamond drilling program at its Campbell-Crotser project in Kentucky, with the goal of supporting an initial underground mine plan.
They’re also moving forward with permitting for both the proposed mine and an onsite processing plant.
The project is located in the historic Illinois-Kentucky Fluorspar District, which was once a major source of U.S. fluorspar production.
With increasing discussion around domestic critical mineral supply chains, I think fluorspar is an interesting niche that isn’t talked about much.