As Tungsten Smashes Records, a Canadian Rival Stakes Claims Next to Almonty’s Montana Ground

Western tungsten supply chains tighten as Red Mountain exercises option on Pioneer project, Almonty targets 2026 production ahead of 2027 US defense ban on Chinese tungsten.

The urgency gripping western tungsten supply chains is no longer just a futures-market story. As the benchmark price for ammonium paratungstate in Rotterdam surged to around $3,185 per unit — a nearly 900% gain in twelve months — Australia’s Red Mountain Mining has exercised an option to take full control of the Pioneer Tungsten Project, a 209-hectare package that sits directly adjacent to claims Almonty Industries acquired last November.

The land lies in the same mineralised belt as Almonty’s Gentung deposit in southwestern Montana, which hosts a resource of 6.83 million tonnes grading 0.315% WO?. The area also includes the historic Ivanhoe and Lost Creek mines, which together produced an estimated 680,000 tonnes of tungsten ore during the 1950s and 1970s. Red Mountain confirmed that due diligence has already identified garnet-bearing skarns, and it is now securing permits for a drill programme — starting with the Greenstone target.

Almonty, for its part, holds what it describes as exclusive exploration and production rights along the entire Gentung corridor. The company’s project page envisions production as early as the second half of 2026. That timeline coincides with a major regulatory catalyst: on 1 January 2027, a US defence rule (DFARS) will ban tungsten sourced from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea from all military supply chains. With China controlling roughly 80% of global output, western defence contractors and semiconductor makers are scrambling for alternatives.

CEO Lewis Black said on US television this week that tungsten represents a critical vulnerability not just for ammunition and armour but also for the chip industry. Almonty has positioned itself to meet that demand: it completed its headquarters relocation from Toronto to Dillon, Montana, in April 2026, followed by a formal announcement the next month. Operationally, the company runs the active Panasqueira mine in Portugal and its flagship Sangdong project in South Korea, which transitioned to commercial production earlier this year.

The financial impact of the price rally is already visible. In the first quarter of 2026, Almonty’s revenue surged 221% to $25.4 million, fuelled overwhelmingly by the APT price explosion combined with steady output from Portugal.

Shares have responded in kind. The stock last traded at C$28.25, up nearly 10% in a single week and 616% year to date. Annualised volatility runs at roughly 80%, and the relative strength index of 85 signals an overbought condition — a technical note that seasoned traders will not ignore.

For now, market participants interpret the Red Mountain move as further validation that Montana’s tungsten belt is attracting serious attention. Almonty’s position remains unique: it is one of the very few non-Chinese producers able to deliver product in the near term. The practical question, however, is whether the company can convert its Gentung claims into actual production before the DFARS deadline — and whether the rally in its shares has already priced in that outcome.