Almonty's Sangdong Mine Ships First Concentrate as Stifel and Goldman Take Opposite Sides
Published on 09/28/2026 at 09:50 | Editorial boerse-global.de
Western tungsten consumers are scrambling for alternatives as China's export curbs on tungsten oxide and ammonium paratungstate (APT) carve visible holes in their supply chains. With the People's Republic accounting for roughly 80% of global tungsten output, processors outside its borders are feeling the pinch. Relief from new Western refining capacity won't arrive quickly — the ISBP estimates at least two to three years before a fresh APT plant comes online.
Flows within Asia are shifting too. Chinese tungsten ore imports from Myanmar climbed about 97% to more than 6,000 tonnes in the first seven months of the year, according to Almonty, with the neighboring country supplying nearly half of all Chinese imports in August alone.
First Saleable Tonne Ready for Export
Against that supply backdrop, Almonty Industries is pressing ahead at its mining sites. Subsidiary Almonty Korea Tungsten has completed the first tonne of saleable concentrate at the Sangdong mine in Yeongwol, South Korea, and the material now sits ready for export. Commercial tungsten production began roughly two weeks ago, with operations currently running twelve hours a day, seven days a week. As the ramp-up proceeds, the company plans to extend daily operating time first to 14 hours and then to 16, building supply for customers in South Korea and overseas once the process stabilizes.
The Korean project's processing and crushing circuits had already received commercial operation certification from South Korean authorities. A revised agreement with Global Tungsten & Powders locks in offtake of 4,410,000 MTU over 21 years, with a contractual minimum of 210,000 MTU annually once ramped up — tying up the overwhelming majority of Phase I output.
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Wall Street Splits on the Story
Analyst coverage landed with a thud on Friday. Stifel initiated the stock with a Buy rating and a $25.00 price target, while Goldman Sachs had already moved a day earlier, assigning Neutral with a $13.00 target. Media reports attribute Goldman's caution to expectations of normalized tungsten prices and a Sangdong ramp-up that could lag some market forecasts. Stifel takes a rosier view of operations, calling the start of mining a key catalyst for fresh buying interest.
The stock closed at EUR 12.09 on European trading venues Friday, a daily gain of 11%, and is up 52% year to date. Since commercial production began about two weeks ago, the shares have slipped 3.5%.
Spain and Rwanda Add Feedstock
Beyond Korea, Almonty is pulling in material from other sources to meet delivery commitments. In Spain, an offtake deal with a Sandvik subsidiary — signed roughly two weeks ago, since which the stock has shed 1.4% — secures at least 1,720 tonnes of contained WO3 from tailings reprocessing at the Los Santos project. Sandvik paid $3 million upfront for the material. The agreement with Wolfram Bergbau und Hütten AG includes a conditional advance payment of $3.0 million for the offtake rights.
Almonty also plans to buy output from small-scale Rwandan miners, with the East African nation producing around 1,200 tonnes of tungsten annually. Under the binding partnership, Rwanda holds 25% of Almonty Rwanda while Almonty controls 75%, with the country contributing the Shyorongi exploration license and a mineral processing permit.
In today's session, Almonty shares are down 1.3% at EUR 11.88, though they remain 50% higher since the start of the year.
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