Almonty’s Sangdong Mine Faces a Stress Test as Production Data and Pentagon Demand Collide

Almonty reports first full quarter at Sangdong mine amid soaring tungsten demand. Key tests: Q1 output costs, Phase 2 vote on June 9, and new CFO arrival.

Tungsten prices have been climbing for months as Western governments scramble to secure supply chains independent of China. Almonty Industries, the Canadian producer behind the massive Sangdong mine in South Korea, has ridden that wave to a stock gain of roughly 630 percent over the past twelve months. But the next few weeks will determine whether the operational reality matches the market’s enthusiasm. The company releases its first-quarter results on May 20, followed by a shareholder vote on a second expansion phase and the arrival of a new finance chief.

The Q1 report marks the first full quarter of commercial-scale production at Sangdong. Almonty closed the initial commissioning phase in March, and the plant is now designed to process 640,000 tonnes of ore annually, targeting 2,300 tonnes of tungsten concentrate. Analysts at DA Davidson expect full capacity utilisation to be reached as early as the second quarter. Investors will scrutinise the early throughput figures and production costs to see if the margin story holds up.

That scrutiny is amplified by the previous quarter’s disappointment. In the final three months of 2025, revenue fell 12 percent short of analyst estimates. The company also reported a net loss of C$162 million for the full year, though management stressed that almost all of that amount stemmed from accounting adjustments tied to the soaring share price. Institutional investors have not been deterred: the number of funds holding Almonty stock has climbed to 107.

Alongside the numbers, the leadership team is being reshuffled. Jorge Beristain, formerly a Wall Street analyst and an executive at US metals distributor Ryerson Holding, steps in as chief financial officer on June 1. He replaces Brian Fox and will be tasked with managing the transition from construction to steady-state commercial operations. Beristain’s experience navigating capital markets could prove valuable as the company prepares for its next growth phase.

That phase goes to a shareholder vote on June 9. The annual meeting will decide whether to greenlight Phase 2 of the Sangdong expansion, which would double processing capacity to 1.2 million tonnes per year by 2027. At that level, Almonty could produce more than 460,000 MTU of tungsten annually – enough to cover roughly 40 percent of the non-Chinese market. The company appears well-funded for the project, ending last year with approximately C$268 million in cash.

The macro backdrop provides strong tailwinds. China’s export controls on tungsten have driven prices for ammonium paratungstate higher for months, and a US defence mandate taking effect in January 2027 will force American arms makers to source all their tungsten from outside China. Almonty already benefits from an exemption from US import duties, and a binding off-take agreement with Tungsten Parts Wyoming guarantees monthly deliveries of at least 40 tonnes of tungsten oxide for use in rockets, drones, and munitions.

The stock closed at C$26.88 on Friday, near its 52-week high, after a modest weekly decline of about 4 percent. That leaves the shares up roughly 123 percent since the start of the year. The upcoming earnings release will either validate the current valuation or trigger a sharp pullback. For now, all eyes are on Sangdong’s first proper production data and whether Almonty can deliver the margins the market has already priced in.