Almonty Draws Pension Fund Money as Tungsten's Supply Squeeze Meets a Looser Share Count

Ohio's public pension system picked up 109,121 Almonty shares worth about USD 1.81 million, joining other institutions betting on Western tungsten supply.

Ohio's public pension system has taken a stake in Almonty Industries, picking up 109,121 shares worth roughly USD 1.81 million, and it is not alone. Van Eck Associates, Cooper Creek Partners and Encompass Capital Advisors have either opened or expanded positions in the tungsten producer, according to recent institutional filings. That kind of register — retirement money rather than momentum money — suggests buyers are treating the company as a long-term bet on Western tungsten supply chains, not a short-term trade.

The stock itself has been anything but calm. After sliding 5.2% in early September, Almonty jumped 10.3% in a single session without any company-specific news to explain the move — a pattern that tends to accompany thinly traded critical-minerals names. More recently the shares changed hands at EUR 16.16, roughly 22% below the 52-week high of EUR 20.61 set back in April, leaving room to run if the momentum holds.

What the pullback actually reflects

A separate 4.1% decline left the stock at EUR 15.77, and again no fresh filing, analyst action or sector headline accounted for it. The more plausible read is a technical breather after a 36% climb in 30 days. Almonty still trades about 18% above its 50-day moving average and has nearly doubled since the start of the year.

That context matters because the operating numbers underneath the price action are unusually strong. Revenue for the second quarter of 2026 came in at USD 43.0 million, up 498% year over year and 69% sequentially. Mining operating income reached USD 26.1 million, while adjusted EBITDA of USD 17.6 million marked an improvement of more than USD 22 million against the prior-year quarter.

A balance sheet built for expansion

Cash and liquid resources stood at USD 1.23 billion as of June 30, 2026, compared with USD 268.4 million at the end of 2025. That jump traces back to an USD 800 million bond completed in June at a 2.25% coupon — upsized by USD 100 million on heavy demand. For a company of Almonty's size, the cushion is unusually deep, and it means the growth phase is being funded from strength rather than scarcity.

The operational centerpiece is the Sangdong mine in South Korea, where throughput at the processing plant has been running since July. Almonty also widened its offtake agreement with Global Tungsten & Powders, part of Austria's Plansee Group, covering concentrate from both Panasqueira and Sangdong. CEO Lewis Black, writing in a newsletter published at the end of August, described a tungsten market increasingly split between Chinese and Western supply — a divide sharpened by new US restrictions on tungsten scrap exports.

Prices near USD 3,000 per mtu of ammonium paratungstate reflect that tightening. Since February 2025, China has been able to require a license for every export of intermediate products, shifting pricing power toward Western producers such as Almonty.

Exchange footprint narrows

The company's listing map has been redrawn as well. Almonty joined the Russell 1000 and Russell 3000 at the end of June, and in early September delisted from the ASX, where trading volumes had become negligible. The CHESS Depositary Interests were suspended at the close on August 28, with removal from the official list following on September 1 — a timeline the company had first flagged on July 24. Trading on the Nasdaq and in Frankfurt continues unaffected, so nothing changes for investors beyond the disappearance of a low-volume side venue.

Analyst coverage has moved in the same direction. Jefferies initiated on Almonty in early September with a buy rating and a USD 26.25 price target, citing the company's role in building out Western tungsten supply chains. The call adds to a broadly positive analyst view, though no uniform consensus figure is currently derivable from the published estimates.

What investors are left to weigh is a familiar mix: growing institutional ownership, fresh analyst endorsement and a stock that remains highly volatile. The valuation is demanding, and single red sessions look more like pauses than reversals given the operational trajectory — a ramping mine, a historically large cash position and a tungsten market where supply is structurally tight.