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Fred
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As stated in the comment by @JG, Wikipedia confirms that 17 kt of fluorine is produced annually. The reference used by both Wikipedia and The Essential Chemical Industry website is Ullmann's Encyclopaedia of Industrial Chemistry. Wikipedia expands further, stating that figure is for 11 companies, all from G7 countries.

The predominant mineral used in producing fluorine is fluorite, also known as fluorspar (CaF2). The Statista website lists the total global production of fluorite, in 2021, as 8.353 Mt, the vast majority of it being mined in China (5.4 Mt). Mexico and Mongolia are the next largest producers at 990 kt and 800 kt respectively.

Now, 48.67% of fluorite is fluorine. However, only high grade fluorite, known as acidspar which contains 97% CaF2 is used to make fluorine. Metspar, which contains 60% to 80% fluorine is used in steel production. Apparently 49% of fluorite mined is acidspar. A question that could be asked is, on Mars would metspar be used to produce fluorine or would it be dumped onto a stockpile? My speculation is, on Mars one would try to utilize as much of the available fluorite as possible.

Your calculations require 43 725 kg fluorine each day, which amounts to 16 Mt of fluorine per Earth year. This is approximately 1000 times more than what is produced on Earth each year and only 42% of acidspar is used to produce fluorocarbons. Even if all Martian production of fluorine minerals were used to produce fluorocarbon gases the amount required would be magnitudes more than what is currently mined on Earth.

Regarding the capability to mine ten times what you calculated comes down to:

  • The quantity of fluorine minerals on Mars
  • How large are the deposits: lateral dimensions, depth and tonnes?
  • What would be the grade of the deposits – percentage of CaF2?
  • What is the geographical distribution of the deposits
  • Would all the deposits be able to be mined by open pit methods and if so how deep would be the deepest pit? This would incorporate depth of mineralization and geomechanical properties of the rocks in the walls of the pits and geological structures affecting pit wall stability.
  • Would underground mining be required?
  • Are all the other resources required to make fluorine compounds available and can they be utilized?
  • Would it be possible to get the amount of equipment required on Mars to mine at such a rate of production and also the stationary processing plant required?
Fred
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