Almonty Locks In Sandvik Offtake as Sangdong Mill Pushes Toward 24-Hour Output
Published on 10/05/2026 at 14:12 | Editorial boerse-global.de
Almonty Industries has added a European buyer to its tungsten book while continuing to stretch operating hours at its flagship South Korean site, a twin-track push that now spans from the mine floor in Yeongwol to a multi-year supply contract with a subsidiary of Sweden's Sandvik group.
The company's processing plant at Sangdong is currently running 13 hours a day, seven days a week, according to chief executive Lewis Black. Management's stated aim is a step-by-step climb to round-the-clock operation, with the mill's runtime serving as the clearest gauge of how quickly the asset is moving from restart to steady commercial production.
That ramp-up follows the certification of the crushing and processing circuits by South Korean regulators, which cleared Phase I for commercial operation and sales. The operating permit for the processing facilities was issued on 17 September. More than 90% of Phase I output is already committed under a long-term offtake agreement running 21 years.
First Concentrate Packed for Export
The regulatory green light has shifted Almonty Korea Tungsten from development mode into active marketing. The mine produced its first tungsten concentrate since 1993 roughly a week before the certification milestone, and transport-ready containers have now been packed for shipment to industrial customers abroad. The move plants the company as a fresh supplier in a market where supply chains remain tight.
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Work on Phase II is running in parallel with the Phase I ramp-up. Almonty is targeting completion of the expansion in 2027, after which total capacity is expected to reach as much as 1.2 million tonnes of ore per year.
Sandvik Unit Signs Take-or-Pay Deal
On the commercial front, Almonty secured additional offtake capacity in Europe through a multi-year take-or-pay supply agreement with Wolfram Bergbau und Hütten AG, a Sandvik group subsidiary. The contract covers a minimum volume of about 1,720 tonnes of tungsten trioxide (WO?) recovered from reprocessing residues at the company's Los Santos operation in Spain.
The company also moved to settle its legal overhang. On Friday it reported the end of litigation with Pure Tungsten that had begun in 2025 in the Canadian province of Ontario. In a corrective statement, Pure Tungsten clarified that Tiger Kim never held a leadership position at Almonty.
Buyback, Auditor Switch and a Stifel Initiation
Alongside the legal clean-up, Almonty repurchased 2,914,739 of its own shares for approximately USD 48 million — a move management framed as a sign of confidence in the balance sheet and in future cash flows from mining operations.
At the corporate level, the group changed auditors effective 29 September. Following the resignation of Zeifmans LLP, the board appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as its new auditor. A mandatory filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission stated that no dispute over accounting matters, disclosure obligations or the scope of the audit preceded the change.
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Analyst coverage has also begun to build. Stifel initiated coverage of the stock with a buy rating and a USD 25.00 price target — on 24 September according to media reports, and on 25 September according to others — and those reports credited the initiation with providing noticeable momentum for the shares.
Market Snapshot
The stock traded at EUR 12.04, up 1.1% on the day, putting its year-to-date advance at 52%. An earlier session saw the shares rise 1.5% to EUR 11.91. The company's market capitalization stands at EUR 3.42 billion, with the operational focus now fixed on lifting mill utilization at Sangdong.
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