Almonty Clears Legal Overhang and Buys Back Stock as Sangdong Ramp-Up Rolls Toward First Cargo

Almonty's Sangdong mill is ramping up with its first tungsten concentrate shipment booked for Oct 24; a buyback is complete and PwC replaced Zeifmans as auditor.

Almonty Industries is running two clocks at once. One is operational, ticking toward the October 24 loading of its first tungsten concentrate shipment from the Sangdong mine in South Korea. The other is corporate, where the company has been quietly tidying up its legal and capital affairs while the mill continues its ramp-up.

The distinction matters more than it might appear. CEO Lewis Black told the International Investment Forum on Wednesday that Sangdong is producing and in the middle of its ramp-up phase, confirming the trajectory set roughly two weeks ago when the first concentrate came off the line. The first shipload of concentrate is booked for October 24. But as Black himself framed it in a shareholder letter dated September 29, the mill is currently running 13 hours a day, seven days a week, with round-the-clock operation as the eventual goal. Wednesday's remarks affirm the ramp-up in progress — not the achievement of continuous operation. For investors, those are two separate operational milestones, and only one of them has been reached.

The same logic applies to the second expansion phase, which the company says is underway and which it expects to complete in 2027. That date is a company projection, not a delivered result. It sits alongside the current ramp-up as a longer-horizon reference point rather than a finished chapter.

A Buyback in the Books, a Build-Out Still Ahead

The September 29 shareholder letter also disclosed a share buyback, with the repurchased stock earmarked for cancellation. That capital measure is already complete. The second expansion phase, by contrast, remains in the future — a gap in progress that keeps operational targets from being conflated with measures already executed. The buyback complements the expansion plans; it does not substitute for either proof of the planned continuous operation or completion of the build-out.

On the audit front, Almonty replaced Zeifmans LLP with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP effective September 29. The regulatory filing cites no reportable events, including disagreements or unresolved questions, and the company says the change did not stem from any dispute over accounting, disclosure, or audit matters. That leaves Sangdong's continued ramp-up as the central yardstick for assessing operations.

Pure Tungsten Settlement Draws a Line Under Old Questions

Away from the mine site, Almonty moved to close out a reputational loose end. On October 2, the company reported a settlement with Pure Tungsten, whose side issued a corrective statement clarifying that Tiger Kim never held an executive, director, or senior employee position at Almonty. His role as an independent contractor ended on December 31, 2015. Almonty filed the agreement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Form 6-K, drawing a clean line under what could have been a lingering distraction.

Such disputes can look like bureaucratic housekeeping at first glance. In a niche market dominated by a handful of players, though, credibility carries weight — particularly when billion-dollar projects are on the table.

Sector Tides, Not Company News, Drive the Tape

The recent share price recovery owes less to that legal cleanup than to broader currents. As Black explained Wednesday, the stock has been moving in step with other names in the critical metals segment, with no company-specific trigger behind the latest advance. Even so, the shares are up 34 percent since the start of the year, a sign of underlying interest in resource-strategy plays.

The backdrop remains volatile. Roughly two weeks ago, Almonty announced both the first production of tungsten concentrate at Sangdong and the launch of development phase two. Since then, the stock has shed 8.9 percent — evidence that operational progress can fade quickly on the exchange when the whole sector swings. On Friday, the shares rose 2.7 percent to EUR 10.61 in sympathy with the sector.

Optimization work on the plant is ongoing, and the first concentrate shipment remains booked for October 24. Over the coming weeks, investors will find out whether clearing the legal noise and delivering on those cargoes is enough to decouple the stock from the whims of the commodities market.