Almonty Borrowing Costs Spike Ahead of Crucial Vote on Doubled Korean Tungsten Output

Almonty Industries shares have hit a rough patch just as the company prepares for a pivotal shareholder vote. The cost of borrowing the stock jumped to 5.78% on Wednesday, a rise of 1.45 percentage points, while the stock slid to CAD 23.69 in Toronto, marking four consecutive losing sessions. Turnover surged too, with roughly 572,000 shares changing hands on Tuesday, well above recent averages. Falling prices on heavy volume often signal a period of price discovery, and market participants are reading the move as elevated risk ahead of the next batch of production data.

Yet the operational picture tells a different story. First-quarter revenue soared 221% year-on-year to USD 25.4 million, driven by higher spot tungsten prices and strong output from the Portuguese operations. The company ended the period with nearly USD 260 million in cash. A reported quarterly loss of USD 5.3 million is largely a non-cash item stemming from an accounting revaluation of the company’s own shares. CEO Lewis Black has also confirmed that ore grades at Sangdong in South Korea are running higher than initially anticipated, with the geological model proving more robust. The processing plant there is already half complete, and Almonty recently moved its head office from Toronto to Montana to strengthen ties with the U.S. defense industry, which increasingly views tungsten as a critical mineral.

Shareholders will meet in Toronto on June 9 to vote on a proposal to double Sangdong’s processing capacity to 1.2 million tonnes per year by 2027. The first phase is already designed for 640,000 tonnes annually, yielding an expected 2,300 tonnes of tungsten concentrate – three times the global average ore grade. If the expansion goes through, Almonty could serve approximately 40% of the world’s tungsten demand outside China. The timing aligns neatly with a new U.S. rule coming into force in January 2027 that will prohibit defense contractors from sourcing tungsten from Chinese suppliers.

Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Almonty?

Beyond tungsten, Almonty is advancing a fully permitted molybdenum project located just 150 meters from its tungsten mine. Production there is slated to begin by the end of 2026, and a buyer is already locked in: South Korean processor SeAH M&S has agreed to take the entire output at a floor price of USD 19 per pound. SeAH is building a new plant in Texas to supply SpaceX and the U.S. defense sector, giving Almonty a direct pipeline into American end-users.

The company is also shaking up its executive ranks ahead of the AGM. On June 1, Jorge Beristain will take over as chief financial officer, replacing Brian Fox. Beristain brings investment-banking experience to the role. Analysts at Diamond Equity Research recently raised their earnings estimates, pointing to falling costs and the surging tungsten price, which has more than tripled between January and May, climbing over 260%.

The next hard check on the story comes tomorrow, May 21, when Almonty releases its first production figures from Sangdong. Those numbers will feed directly into the debate ahead of the June 9 vote, where management will need to explain the disconnect between strong underlying performance and the recent weakness in the stock. With a cash pile of nearly a quarter of a billion dollars and a strategic position in non-Chinese tungsten and molybdenum supply chains, the company is betting that operational momentum will ultimately win over the market’s current skepticism.

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