Almonty’s Molybdenum Drilling Surpasses 37% Completion as South Korea’s Critical Metal Hunt Intensifies
20.06.2026 - 09:05:27 | boerse-global.de
Almonty Industries is making swift progress on its 26-hole, 12,000-metre molybdenum drilling programme at the Sangdong complex in South Korea, with roughly 37% of the work already finished. Early assay results are matching historical grades, paving the way for a full resource estimate and a fast-track to production. The move marks a strategic expansion for a company best known for tungsten, but one that slots directly into a national supply crisis: Seoul has publicly urged private industry to secure domestic sources of molybdenum, a metal critical to aerospace, defence, semiconductors and nuclear energy.
Behind the drilling push sits a recently completed financing that netted the company approximately $772.7 million. Almonty issued $800 million in convertible notes due July 2031, carrying a coupon of 2.25%, and fully exercised an overallotment option. The initial $700 million convertible announced in early June triggered a sharp sell-off as investors priced in dilution, but the stock has since recovered its footing. After dipping to C$26.54 during the week, shares closed at C$26.67, a 7.76% gain that suggests the market has digested the capital raise.
The convertible’s structure includes a capped-call transaction with a strike price of $41.36 per share, which limits future dilution in the event of a rally. Proceeds are split three ways: about $543 million will go toward working capital and general corporate purposes, with the company explicitly leaving the door open for acquisitions; $50 million is earmarked for refinancing existing debt; and the remainder will strengthen the Sangdong tungsten mine, already slated to become the largest tungsten source outside China.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Almonty?
On the charts, the stock has gained more than 120% year to date and trades well above both its 100-day moving average of C$24.63 and its 200-day moving average of C$17.59. The relative strength index sits at 53, neutral territory after the post-convertible turbulence. Still, the share price remains about 20% below the April high of C$33.35, and annualised volatility hovers near 99%, underscoring how sensitive the equity remains to news flow around critical metals.
Molybdenum’s spot price has climbed roughly 23.5% over the past 12 months, driven by demand from chipmakers, solar manufacturers and defence contractors. South Korea imports the vast majority of its needs, giving Almonty an inside track as a supplier that sits outside China’s dominant market share. The Sangdong molybdenum project lies adjacent to the company’s existing tungsten infrastructure, a setup that should reduce both capital costs and time to first production once the resource is confirmed.
Institutional investors are reassessing Almonty’s role as a strategic, non-Chinese source of two critical metals. The company’s ability to fund both the tungsten ramp and molybdenum development through a single convertible instrument—without tapping equity markets—has eased earlier dilution fears. The focus now shifts to operational milestones: completing the drilling programme and delivering a maiden resource estimate that the market has not yet priced in.
With the convertible shock behind it and a government-backed mandate to fill, Almonty’s next catalyst will come from the ground at Sangdong. The faster those 12,000 metres yield a bankable resource, the sooner the company can transition from explorer to producer—and from tungsten specialist to dual-commodity critical metals supplier.
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