Almonty Clears Final Hurdle at Sangdong as Shares Climb 5.9%
Published on 09/22/2026 at 07:11 | Editorial boerse-global.de
Almonty Industries has crossed the last regulatory threshold standing between it and commercial tungsten output in South Korea. The Nasdaq-listed miner (ticker ALM) confirmed it received the final operating certificates for the processing and crushing circuits at its Sangdong site in Gangwon Province on Thursday, a green light that sent the stock up 5.9% to close at EUR 12.75 on Monday.
The approval marks the transition from developer to active producer at a deposit in Yeongwol that Almonty acquired back in 2015. Since taking over the historic mine, the company has poured more than USD 100 million into bringing it back to life, and the newly issued permits now allow tungsten concentrate to be produced commercially at the site.
Offtake Backstop Covers the Bulk of Phase I
Underpinning the economics of the operation is a long-dated supply agreement with Global Tungsten & Powders, part of the Plansee Group. More than 90% of Phase I output is committed across a 21-year term, with a contracted total of 4.41 million MTU of tungsten concentrate. The deal sets a minimum annual purchase obligation of 210,000 MTU, while Almonty is targeting average yearly production of roughly 200,000 MTU from the South Korean asset — meaning the lion's share of planned output is already spoken for.
The timing lands in the middle of a broader Western push to secure alternatives to Chinese supply. China currently accounts for about 80% of global tungsten mining, and projects sited outside that dominant market are viewed as key building blocks in diversifying worldwide supply chains — a priority echoed in Europe's Critical Raw Materials Act.
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Beyond Korea: Spain, Tailings and a Sandvik-Linked Deal
Almonty is not staking its future on a single jurisdiction. Spain holds the largest tungsten reserves in Western Europe, and the company continues to advance projects there alongside its Korean flagship.
Its multi-year take-or-pay arrangement with Wolfram Bergbau und Hütten AG, a subsidiary of the Sandvik Group, targets the recycling of existing tailings piles. That contract carries a conditional advance payment of USD 3.0 million for the offtake rights and covers at least approximately 1,720 tonnes of contained tungsten trioxide. The cooperation is structured to purchase ore, pre-concentrates and tailings material from local licensees for further processing, with mobile processing units positioned near the stockpiles.
Momentum Builds After a Soft Stretch
The operational confirmation at Sangdong has given the shares fresh traction following a weaker phase. Zooming out, the stock has gained 61% since the start of the year.
Attention now shifts to execution — specifically how quickly Almonty can ramp up throughput at Sangdong and get commercial volumes moving into the market. As the company's central project, the mine will serve as the clearest gauge of how efficiently large-scale concentrate processing can be brought online.
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