OD6 Metals (ASX: OD6): Nevada's Quinn Delivers High-Grade Fluorspar Cleaner Than Global Peers
- Noel Ong
- Jun 22
- 11 min read
Updated: Jul 9
Clean, high-grade results open a pathway to both MetSpar and premium AcidSpar products.
At a Glance
Item | Description |
Company | OD6 Metals Limited (ASX: OD6) — a ~A$13.5m-capped Australian critical-minerals explorer |
Focus | Fluorspar (USA), plus rare earths and copper (Australia) |
Flagship | Quinn Fluorspar Project, Nevada, USA — a district-scale cluster (48 claims, ~220km north of Las Vegas) with deposits at Horseshoe, Mammoth and Big Jim |
Latest results | Low-impurity multi-element assays at Horseshoe and Mammoth; Horseshoe averages 70.9% CaF₂ (peak 82%) with very low contaminants |
The significance | Horseshoe already meets MetSpar specifications — pointing to Direct Shipping Ore (DSO) potential — while both deposits offer a pathway to premium AcidSpar (>97% CaF₂) via ore-sorting and flotation |
Why it stands out | Very low lead, sulphur, arsenic, uranium and thorium versus major deposits in Mexico, Italy, China and Utah — reducing processing, environmental and permitting risk |
Products & pricing | MetSpar (steel fluxing agent) ~US$400–520/t; AcidSpar (chemical/HF acid) ~US$560/t |
Critical-mineral angle | The US imports 100% of its fluorspar and classifies it critical; >60% of global supply comes from China; used in HF acid, AI chips, batteries, defence and refrigerants |
Jurisdiction | Nevada — ranked #2 globally on the Fraser Institute’s 2025 mining attractiveness index |
Acquisition status | OD6 has exercised its option over Quinn; completion is subject to shareholder approval (EGM expected ~mid-July 2026); 2% NSR on future production |
Other assets | Splinter Rock clay-hosted REE (WA) — 119Mt @ 1,632ppm + 563Mt @ 1,275ppm TREO; Gulf Creek copper-zinc (NSW) |
Leadership | MD & CEO Brett Hazelden; Non-Executive Chair Piers Lewis |
Stage / next steps | Channel-sample stage at Quinn (pre-resource); metallurgical testwork underway — TOMRA optical ore sorting and Core Resources flotation — with results expected through Q3 and H2 2026 |
OD6 Metals Limited (ASX: OD6) has highlighted multi-element assay results from the Horseshoe and Mammoth deposits at its Quinn Fluorspar Project in Nevada (Figure 1).
The results confirm high fluorspar grades - Horseshoe averaging 70.9% CaF₂ - alongside impurity levels below typical global industry thresholds, supporting the potential for premium MetSpar and Acid Spar products.
For a mineral the United States classifies as critical and imports in full, grade combined with clean chemistry in a tier-one jurisdiction is the combination that matters.
OD6 Managing Director Brett Hazelden, commented: “These results reinforce our belief that Quinn has the potential to become one of the highest-grade fluorspar projects in North America. Not only are we seeing exceptional fluorspar grades, particularly at Horseshoe, but we are also seeing remarkably low levels of impurities that commonly attract penalties or create processing challenges at many fluorspar operations globally"
The Headline: High Grade, and Clean
The standout is Horseshoe. Channel sampling there returned an average of 70.9% CaF₂, with a peak of 82%, and crucially, an impurity suite that sits comfortably inside product specifications even before any processing (Table 1). Lead, sulphur, arsenic, cadmium, uranium and thorium all came back very low to non-detectable. In OD6’s own framing, the Horseshoe material already exceeds the minimum grade generally associated with MetSpar products, opening the door to a Direct Shipping Ore (DSO) style product subject to the usual further studies.
Mammoth is lower grade at an average 40.8% CaF₂ (peak 53.2%) and carries higher silica, so it needs upgrading to reach MetSpar’s >60% threshold — but it shares the same clean signature: low base metals, low sulphur, negligible arsenic. Both deposits, OD6 says, have the potential to be lifted to premium AcidSpar (>97% CaF₂) through ore-sorting and conventional flotation.
Table 1:Horseshoe vs Mammoth (channel samples)
Deposit | Avg CaF₂ | Peak CaF₂ | Silica | Status |
Horseshoe | 70.9% | 82% | 8.9% | Meets MetSpar spec; DSO potential |
Mammoth | 40.8% | 53.2% | 38.1% | Needs ore-sorting to reach >60% |
Channel-sample averages, not a Mineral Resource. Source: OD6 Metals ASX announcement, 16 June 2026.
It’s worth being clear about the stage: these are channel samples from surface, not drill results, and the company is explicit that the spacing is not appropriate for a Mineral Resource estimate. Quinn has never been drilled. What the results do is establish the grade and — more importantly — the chemistry, ahead of the metallurgical and drilling work that would turn encouragement into a resource.
Figure 1: Quinn Fluorspar Project with, deposit locations, background geology and alteration map (Source: OD6 ASX Announcement)
MetSpar and AcidSpar - A Quick Primer
Fluorspar (the mineral fluorite, CaF₂) is the world’s main source of fluorine, and it’s typically sold in two upgraded forms. MetSpar (>60% CaF₂) goes to the steel industry as a fluxing agent — it improves slag fluidity and helps strip impurities — and needs to be low in lead and sulphur (Table 2).
AcidSpar (>97% CaF₂) is the higher-value product, sold to the chemical industry to make hydrofluoric acid, which in turn feeds battery chemistries, solar panels, semiconductors and AI chips, defence applications and the nuclear fuel cycle. AcidSpar carries tight limits on silica, arsenic, sulphur, phosphorus and any radioactive or base-metal contaminants.
Table 2: MetSpar vs AcidSpar
Product | CaF₂ | Key limits | Used in | Price (US$/t) |
MetSpar | >60% | <5,000ppm Pb; <3,000ppm S | Steel — fluxing agent | ~$400–520 |
AcidSpar | >97% | <1.5% SiO₂; <10–20ppm As; <1,000ppm S; <100–550ppm P | Chemical — HF acid (batteries, solar, chips, defence, nuclear) | ~$560 |
Pricing, per the announcement, runs around US$400–520 per tonne for MetSpar (depending on grade and quality) and around US$560 per tonne for AcidSpar. The attraction of Quinn is that it potentially offers a pathway to both — a near-term, simple DSO MetSpar product from Horseshoe, and a higher-value AcidSpar product with modest processing.
Why Clean Chemistry Matters
This is the part of the OD6 story that investors should look closely, because impurities are important in fluorspar economics. The announcement does set Quinn against the global peer group, and the contrast is good. At Las Cuevas in Mexico, which is the world’s largest fluorite producer, the presence of arsenic is a recognised processing constraint.
In Europe's largest fluorite deposit, located in Silius, Italy, there is a fluorite-galena system with a lead grade of 3.2%, necessitating a distinct processing circuit. Many Chinese deposits are found in pyrite-bearing systems, which increase the risk of acid drainage. At the Lost Sheep project in Utah, uranium levels can reach several thousand ppm.
In contrast, Quinn’s Horseshoe and Mammoth have low levels of all these elements. This has three practical implications that OD6 rightly highlights:
low sulphur content means a minimal risk of acid mine drainage (an environmental and permitting benefit),
the lack of uranium and thorium eliminates concerns about radionuclides, and
low levels of base metals and arsenic reduce the need for specialized processing circuits.
In the context of US permitting, being "clean" is not only a metallurgical advantage but also a developmental one.
The Critical-Mineral Backdrop
The macro case is the easy part. The United States imports 100% of its fluorspar, classifies it as a critical mineral, and sources more than 60% of global supply from China. Fluorspar sits upstream of hydrofluoric acid, which is upstream of an enormous range of modern technologies such as semiconductors and AI chips, batteries, refrigerants, defence systems and uranium enrichment. With Western governments actively seeking secure, domestic critical-mineral supply chains, a clean, high-grade fluorspar project in Nevada — the world’s second-ranked mining jurisdiction — is squarely on theme.
Beyond Quinn
Although Quinn is the focus, OD6 is not a single-asset company. In Western Australia it holds the 100%-owned Splinter Rock clay-hosted rare-earth project, which carries a sizeable Mineral Resource — 119Mt at 1,632ppm TREO (Indicated) plus 563Mt at 1,275ppm TREO (Inferred) — and an innovative processing flowsheet targeting neodymium and praseodymium recovery.
In New South Wales, the Gulf Creek copper-zinc VMS project offers exploration upside along more than 10km of strike. Both keep OD6 anchored to the broader critical-minerals theme while Quinn takes centre stage.
What’s Next
OD6 is advancing a staged metallurgical testwork program to validate and optimize processing flowsheets.
Recent OD6 field programs have collected extensive metallurgical samples across multiple prospects at Quinn, ready for modern-day metallurgical testing.
Forward plan include:
Samples to be sent for optical ore sorting testwork with TOMRA (Germany)
Upgrade feed grade prior to processing
Reduce processing costs and plant size
Assess reject/waste separation efficiency
OD6 expects the TOMRA testwork to commence this quarter, with results to be available in quarter 3
Additional metallurgical flotation testwork with Core Resources (Australia)
Flotation optimisation
Dense media separation
Grind size and reagent testing o Product specification validation (Acidspar vs. Metspar)
OD6 expects the flotation testwork to commence this quarter, with results anticipated to be available in the second half of the year
OD6 to apply for bulk sample permits across multiple areas to support advanced metallurgical testwork
Provide representative material for pilot-scale testing
Support flowsheet development
Generate potential offtake samples for customers
The Fluoride Market - The Basics
Fluorspar (the commercial name for the mineral fluorite, CaF₂) is the world's primary source of fluorine. The market is roughly 8-9 million tonnes per year and valued at around US$2.1-2.8 billion in 2025-2026, with most forecasters expecting low-to-mid single-digit CAGR growth through to 2032-2035. It is split into two main commercial grades: acid-grade (acidspar, ≥97% CaF₂) which feeds the chemical industry, and metallurgical-grade (metspar) which goes into steel and aluminium production.
The headline structural feature of this market is extreme geographic concentration on the supply side (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Global players in the Fluorspar market. China, Mexico and Mongolia together account for ~84% of global supply.
China's position is structurally important because it is also the largest consumer — Asia Pacific accounts for roughly 74% of global volume — meaning Chinese industrial activity and export policy effectively set the global price. The flip side of this concentration is that fluorspar is now formally listed as a critical mineral by the United States, EU, China, Canada, Japan and Australia, and Western governments are actively supporting new supply (the Lost Sheep mine in Utah, the St Lawrence mine restart in Canada, plus projects in Australia, Germany and Kenya).
On the demand side, the market is dominated by chemical applications rather than the traditional metallurgical uses most people associate with the mineral.
Where fluorspar goes — grade split and downstream end-use
The outlook narrative (see Figure 3) — and the reason fluorspar is getting attention now — is the shift in chemical demand toward energy-transition end-uses. The traditional refrigerant market is actually being phased down (the US AIM Act has cut HFC production allowances to 40% below the historic baseline), but this is being more than offset by three rising demand vectors:
Lithium-ion batteries. A Li-ion EV battery uses 5-10x more fluorspar (by mass) than lithium — fluorine compounds appear in the cathode binder (PVDF), the electrolyte salt (LiPF₆), and separator coatings. Benchmark Mineral Intelligence estimates the battery segment alone will pull more than 1.6 Mt of fluorspar annually by 2030, growing at over 20% CAGR.
Semiconductors. Ultra-high-purity hydrogen fluoride is essential for etching silicon wafers, with data centre build-out for AI lifting demand.
Decarbonisation chemistry. Hydrogen fuel cells, green refrigerants, and fluoropolymer membranes all consume acidspar-derived HF.
Figure 3: The distribution of its uses.
The US Department of Energy has projected that under current trajectories, fluorspar demand will exceed current supply by 40-70% by 2035. That gap, combined with the geographic concentration shown in the first chart (Figure 6), China's own declining reserves, and the critical mineral designations is what is bringing new Western producers and developers into the conversation.
It is also worth noting that fluorspar is rarely produced as a by-product; it depends on dedicated mining operations, which makes the supply side less responsive to sudden demand spikes than commodities like cobalt or molybdenum.
Samso Concluding Comments
OD6 has unveiled a high-grade fluorspar project in a top-tier jurisdiction, providing a mineral that the United States requires but cannot currently produce domestically. As OD6 advances the Quinn project, recent findings indicate that the material is not only high-grade but also remarkably free of the contaminants that typically trouble fluorspar projects in other locations.
The dual pathway, a potential near-term DSO MetSpar product alongside a route to premium AcidSpar gives the project a flexibility that most single-product deposits lack.
The caution for investors are the following, Quinn is at the channel-sampling stage and has never been drilled, so grade and chemistry are known but tonnage is not. Future issues are also unknown and I don't think I have worked or looked at a project over time when no new issues are uncovered. This is by no means a certainty as much as the contrarian thought is a certainty.
The metallurgical testwork now underway is that will start to create visibility on the assays and create a defined, saleable product. As a small-cap with milestone payments and exploration ahead, OD6 will need to keep funding the work. The funding is a work in progress and one would simply accept that is the road ahead.
For now, the things to watch are the TOMRA and Core Resources metallurgical results due through the second half of 2026, the completion of the Quinn acquisition in July, and the first drilling that begins to convert a high-grade, low-impurity surface story into a resource.
A good commodity and good timing, so DYOR is advised.
About OD6 Metals Limited
OD6 Metals Ltd (ASX: OD6) is an Australian public company pursuing exploration and development opportunities across the critical minerals sector, with a portfolio spanning fluorspar, rare earth elements, and copper.
Its flagship rare earth asset is the Splinter Rock Project in Western Australia's Esperance-Goldfields region, which hosts one of Australia's largest clay-hosted rare earth deposits with an Indicated Resource of 119Mt at 1,632ppm TREO and an Inferred Resource of 563Mt at 1,275ppm TREO.
In fluorspar, the company holds an option to acquire the Quinn Fluorspar Project located approximately 220km north of Las Vegas, Nevada — a project with documented high-grade mineralisation across multiple systems, including Mammoth, Horseshoe, and now the rediscovered Big Jim lode, each exhibiting grades well above the economic threshold for fluorspar development. The company also holds the Gulf Creek Copper-Zinc VMS Project near Barraba in New South Wales (Figure 4).
Check out the Coffee with Samso discussing the acquisition of the Quinn Flourspar Project.
Figure 4: Location and neighbourhood of Quinn Fluorspar Project in Nevada
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