Almonty's Triple Catalyst: A New CFO, a Mine Expansion Vote, and the Pentagon Clock Tick

Canadian miner Almonty surges 600% as Pentagon deadline boosts tungsten. New CFO appointed; shareholders to vote on doubling Sangdong mine capacity by 2027.

Almonty Industries is barrelling into a month that packs together a corporate overhaul, a pivotal shareholder ballot, and the mounting pressure of a US defence deadline that has already sent tungsten prices into orbit. The Canadian miner, which has seen its stock surge nearly 600 percent over the past twelve months, is now tasked with showing it can translate a historic supply shock into sustained operational delivery.

A Wall Street veteran takes the finance helm

Jorge Beristain started as Almonty's new chief financial officer on 1 June 2026, bringing more than 25 years of capital markets experience in the commodity sector. The CFA charterholder was most recently vice president of finance at Ryerson Holding, a metal services company with roughly $5 billion in annual revenue. Earlier in his career, he headed Deutsche Bank Securities' Americas metals and mining equity research team as a top-ranked analyst. Beristain replaces interim CFO Guillaume de Lamaziere. His immediate brief includes managing the capital structure of the Sangdong mine in South Korea as it transitions into commercial production and overseeing the relocation of Almonty's US headquarters to Dillon, Montana.

Shareholders to vote on doubling Sangdong's capacity

On 9 June, Almonty will hold its annual general meeting in Toronto. Stockholders of record as of 24 April are eligible to vote in person or by proxy. Among the agenda items: approval of the financial statements for 2025, a board size set at seven members, confirmation of Zeifmans LLP as auditor, and the adoption of a new omnibus equity programme covering options, restricted share units, and deferred share units. The company has approximately 283.7 million common shares outstanding.

The most consequential resolution, however, is a proposal to double the processing capacity at the Sangdong tungsten mine to 1.2 million tonnes per year by 2027. At full throughput, Sangdong would account for roughly 40 percent of the world's tungsten supply outside China — a structurally dominant position in a market that is being redrawn by geopolitical forces.

Sangdong's ramp-up and the economics beneath it

The mine was officially commissioned in March 2026, with first-phase commissioning now complete. Almonty targets full commercial production by the end of this year, while Phase II, which will lift capacity to 1.2 million tonnes annually, is scheduled for 2027. That would allow Sangdong to produce more than 460,000 metric tonne units (MTU) of tungsten each year.

Proven reserves stand at 7.9 million tonnes grading 0.45 percent tungsten trioxide, with indicated resources of 8.3 million tonnes and inferred resources of 52.8 million tonnes. Production costs are estimated at around $110 per MTU — a wide margin against current spot prices that most commodity producers would envy. Almonty's balance sheet at 31 March 2026 showed $259.9 million in cash and working capital of $169.5 million.

The Pentagon deadline that is reshaping supply chains

The structural catalyst behind the run-up in tungsten prices is regulatory. From 1 January 2027, US Department of Defence procurement rule DFARS 252.225-7052 prohibits the military from sourcing certain tungsten powders and alloys from China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. China controls more than 80 percent of global tungsten output, and western defence and aerospace manufacturers are scrambling to secure compliant supply.

Ammonium paratungstate (APT) prices in Rotterdam stood at approximately $3,185 per metric tonne unit in early May 2026 — a gain of roughly 900 percent over twelve months, driven by Chinese export licensing curbs and the approaching DFARS cliff. Almonty's production footprint across South Korea, Portugal, and Spain sits entirely outside the banned jurisdictions. Beyond the US, the European Union is also exploring strategic reserves for tungsten alongside gallium, rare earths, magnesium, germanium, and graphite.

A stock that has already priced in much of the story

Almonty's shares closed at C$27.34 on the TSX on Friday, representing a gain of 127 percent year-to-date and 593 percent over the trailing twelve months. The stock sits 14.75 percent below its 52-week high of C$32.07 reached in mid-April. The relative strength index reads 85.1 — deep in overbought territory — which helps explain the recent consolidation. The share price also trades roughly 69 percent above its 200-day moving average, suggesting a fundamental re-rating rather than a short-lived spike.

Institutional ownership is growing. FMR LLC, the parent of Fidelity, reported beneficial ownership of 18.3 million common shares as of 31 March, or 6.5 percent of the class, with sole voting and dispositive power over that stake.

Russell index entry opens another institutional channel

A further catalyst arrives on 29 June, when Almonty is scheduled to join both the Russell 1000 and the Russell 3000 indices. Passive funds and ETFs tracking those benchmarks will be forced to allocate to the stock, a process that historically drives elevated trading activity in the weeks before the rebalance. Longer term, a permanent index membership typically brings broader analyst coverage, deeper institutional ownership, and improved liquidity.

Delivery is now the test

Almonty's pipeline includes a potential restart of the Los Santos mine in Spain and the Gentung project in Montana. But the immediate challenge is straightforward: the Sangdong mine must now deliver on its ramp-up. Beristain's appointment signals an intent to sharpen the company's communication with institutional investors during this critical transition from developer to producer. With a packed June calendar and a market already betting heavily on the tungsten super-cycle, execution will determine whether the bull case holds or fractures.