Tungsten's Meteoric Rise Boosts Almonty's Books, But the Stock Tells a Different Story

Almonty's Q1 revenue jumps to C$25.4M as tungsten prices triple, but stock falls 13% amid investor caution over Sangdong mine. New CFO appointed.

The numbers coming out of Almonty Industries are hard to ignore. APT — the benchmark ammonium paratungstate — has exploded from roughly $862 per unit in early January to around $3,140 by early May, a jump of more than 200% in under five months. That commodity tailwind lifted Almonty's gross revenue to C$25.4 million in the first quarter of 2026, up from C$7.9 million a year earlier. Mine operating profit swung to C$13.0 million against just C$0.8 million in Q1 2025, even as output at the Panasqueira mine in Portugal fell nearly 15%.

Yet the Toronto-listed shares have gone the other way. After sliding almost 12% on Wednesday, the stock lost another 6.6% on Thursday to trade at C$24.98. The recent pullback — a 13% decline over the past 30 days — stands in sharp contrast to a one-year gain of more than 575% and a year-to-date advance of roughly 108%. Investors, it seems, are already pricing in the success of the Sangdong mine in South Korea and demanding operational proof before bidding the stock higher.

That proof hinges on Sangdong, Almonty's crown jewel. At full capacity, the historic Korean mine is designed to supply over 80% of the world’s tungsten output outside China — a figure the company’s most recent plans have refined to around 40% of non-Chinese demand once Phase 2 doubles processing capacity to roughly 1.2 million tonnes of ore annually by 2027. The geopolitical timing is immaculate. Washington has imposed strict bans on Chinese defense procurement, and from 2027 intends to exclude Chinese, Russian and North Korean tungsten from its military supply chains entirely. Almonty’s U.S. project, Gentung Browns Lake, could begin production as early as the second half of 2026, slotting neatly into that window.

To steer through this expansion, Almonty is bringing in a new financial chief. Jorge Beristain steps into the CFO role on June 1, leaving his post as Vice President Finance at NYSE-listed metals distributor Ryerson Holding, which generates roughly $5 billion in annual revenue. Before that, Beristain was a leading Wall Street commodities analyst, serving as Managing Director and head of Americas metals and mining research at Deutsche Bank Securities. He replaces Guillaume de Lamaziere, the company's development chief, who will handle the finance function on an interim basis until the transition.

CEO Lewis Black spent the week making the case for tungsten on two major stages: the BofA Securities Global Metals, Mining & Steel Conference and the Critical Minerals Forum in Toronto, where he delivered a keynote on the industry’s acute labour shortage and joined a panel on the geopolitical reshaping of mineral supply chains. The message was consistent — Almonty is building a secure, western-friendly supply line for a metal vital to defence and advanced technology.

The net loss narrowed to C$5.3 million in Q1, a dramatic improvement from the C$34.6 million loss in the same period last year, which had been inflated by a one-time non-cash valuation charge on warrant liabilities. Similar non-cash items continued to weigh on the bottom line in the latest quarter without affecting operating cash flow. With roughly C$260 million in cash on hand, Almonty has ample runway to fund its expansion plans without needing to tap capital markets in the near term. For now, the market appears to be waiting for Sangdong's Phase 2 to shift from promise to production — and for the stock's volatility to settle into a trend that matches the momentum beneath the ground.