Almonty's Sangdong Starts Producing, but Stock Rally Shows Signs of Fatigue

Almonty Industries begins regular ore processing at South Korea's Sangdong mine, boosting western supply chains, but shares retreat 22% amid profit-taking.

The moment tungsten developers dream about has arrived at Almonty Industries: regular ore is flowing through the newly commissioned processing plant at the Sangdong mine in South Korea's Gangwon province. But while the operational milestone marks a genuine breakthrough for western supply chains, the company's stock has been giving back some of its spectacular gains this year, highlighting the tension between long-term strategic value and short-term market sentiment.

Almonty entered the week with a substantial ore buffer. The company had stockpiled roughly 120,000 tonnes of material with an average tungsten trioxide grade of 0.24 percent through the end of the first quarter, followed by another 19,700 tonnes grading 0.35 percent WO? in the second quarter. That combined inventory of nearly 140,000 tonnes – the secondary source puts the average at 0.25 percent – gives management operational flexibility as the plant ramps up. Executives have deliberately started with lower-grade feed, expecting higher concentrations once the process stabilises.

The new plant's reliability under continuous load will be the immediate focus for investors. Almonty already proved it could run the facility in June when it processed stockpiled ore, but the transition to regular throughput is the threshold that separates developers from producers. Sangdong is considered one of the world's highest-quality tungsten deposits, and the metal's strategic importance for defence and industrial applications has drawn keen interest from western governments scrambling to reduce reliance on China.

That urgency is reflected in Almonty's balance sheet. The group posted a 221 percent jump in revenue to $25.4 million in the first half of the year, driven by stronger spot prices and its established Portuguese Panasqueira operation. Operating cash flow turned decisively positive. The stock had been riding that wave for months: year-to-date, shares are still up 85.6 percent, and the 12-month return stands at 258 percent, according to exchange data.

Yet the recent price action tells a more cautious story. After trading as high as C$23.27, the stock has pulled back to C$22.33, shedding 4.8 percent on Thursday alone and nearly 22 percent over the past month. Some of that weakness can be chalked up to profit-taking after a blistering tungsten rally and index-driven inflows that had inflated valuations. The secondary source notes the shares are now down roughly 18 percent on a monthly basis.

Almonty has also been strengthening its geopolitical positioning. The company partnered with American Defense International, took part in the US Department of Defense's Critical Minerals Forum, and appointed former US generals to its board. These moves underscore the reality that China still controls more than 80 percent of global tungsten supply and Beijing's export licensing system for rare earths – introduced in April – has made it increasingly difficult for western buyers to secure material outside China. Neodymium-praseodymium oxide in the West now trades at four to six times the domestic Chinese price, a pricing gap that makes projects like Sangdong economically compelling.

For Almonty, the next test is scaling throughput and grades toward full capacity. With a fat stockpile, government backing, and a product that western buyers desperately need, the company has removed the biggest binary risk. Whether the stock can regain its upward momentum depends on how quickly the new plant proves its mettle – and whether the broader bull market in critical minerals continues to support valuations that have already priced in significant success.