Almonty Rides Two Rare Metal Tsunamis as Sangdong Drilling Accelerates and Tungsten Production Kicks In

Almonty Industries' Sangdong mine ramps tungsten output amid China's 900% price surge and drills for molybdenum as South Korea's reserves hit critical lows, with stock up 473%.

The global scramble for critical metals has found its unlikely battleground in a mine tucked away in South Korea. While China tightens its stranglehold on tungsten and Seoul scrambles to replenish its molybdenum reserves, Almonty Industries sits squarely in the crosshairs of two simultaneous supply crises. The Sangdong project, already firing tungsten concentrate since March, is now being drilled at breakneck speed for a second metal that the West can no longer take for granted.

China’s grip on tungsten is nearly absolute, controlling over 80 percent of global output. That dependency turned into a weapon in January 2026, when Beijing imposed sweeping export restrictions on tungsten products. The price of ammonium paratungstate, the key intermediate, surged roughly 900 percent in Rotterdam to over $3,180 per tonne. Military consumption alone jumped 12 percent this year as ammunition depots emptied, and new US regulations will ban Chinese or Russian tungsten from defense procurement from 2027 onward.

Almonty’s response is Sangdong, which began operations in March 2026. In its first phase, the mine will produce around 2,300 tonnes of tungsten concentrate annually, with plans to double that to 4,600 tonnes by 2027. At full capacity, Sangdong can satisfy roughly 40 percent of tungsten demand outside China. The company has also shifted its corporate domicile from Toronto to Montana, physically moving closer to its main customer base in the US defense industry.

But tungsten is only half the story. Across the Korean Peninsula, a quiet emergency is brewing over molybdenum, a metal essential for specialty steels used in aerospace and armaments. South Korea’s national reserves have fallen to a critical low, and the government is pressing private companies to lock in supply as quickly as possible. Almonty responded by accelerating the drilling program at Sangdong’s molybdenum zones. So far, 37 percent of the planned 12,000 metres have been completed, with early results confirming historical resource estimates.

The financial firepower to support this dual push came from a convertible bond offering that closed on June 9. The oversubscribed issue raised $700 million, drawing a line under the selling pressure that hit the stock when the financing was first announced earlier in the month. The fresh capital is earmarked for scaling up the company’s critical metals supply chain.

Almonty’s underlying business is already showing the leverage from higher tungsten prices. First-quarter revenue surged 221 percent to $25.4 million, while operating cash flow flipped from negative to a positive $9.7 million. Liquidity stood at around $260 million. Even a 15 percent drop in production at the Panasqueira mine in Portugal was more than offset by the explosion in tungsten prices—a textbook example of how a structurally repriced commodity amplifies earnings.

The stock market has not been idle. Almonty’s shares have gained 473 percent over the past 12 months to close at C$26.73. In the last seven days alone, the advance was 25.55 percent. The stock now trades 53.67 percent above its 200-day moving average, yet remains roughly 20 percent below the April 52-week high of about C$33.41. Short-term traders are watching the 50-day line at C$27.13 as a resistance level.

An even bigger catalyst looms on June 29, when Almonty joins both the Russell 1000 and Russell 3000 indices. The inclusion will force passive funds to buy the stock, adding a wave of demand just as the rising molybdenum spot price gives the narrative another tailwind.

With a market capitalisation of €4.3 billion, Almonty is no longer a speculative junior. It has become the West’s most concrete answer to a structural shortage of two irreplaceable metals—tungsten for its unmatched heat resistance, molybdenum for the strongest alloys under stress. No new mines of similar scale are on the horizon outside China. If the Sangdong ramp-up delivers on schedule, the market’s willingness to pay a premium for strategic control over these supply chains will only grow.