Almonty's Korean Ramp-Up Rewrites the Story as a $300 Million Buyback Looms

Almonty launches $300M buyback after Sangdong ramp-up drives 498% revenue surge, swinging to profit as analysts raise targets to $33.

The transformation of Almonty Industries from a development-stage miner into a producing tungsten supplier is now showing up in the numbers — and the company is betting $300 million that the market hasn't fully caught on yet.

Shares of the Toronto-headquartered miner closed at $17.59 on August 20, 2026, after trading in a range of $15.75 to $17.80 during the session. The stock finished the day 11 percent above its intraday low, with roughly 10.48 million shares changing hands — comfortably ahead of the average daily volume of 7.24 million. That puts the equity within striking distance of its 52-week high of $24.41, a remarkable recovery from the year's trough of just $3.97.

A Buyback Backed by a Bulging Balance Sheet

On August 24, Almonty kicks off a repurchase program authorized for the next 36 months. The company can acquire up to 14.4 million of its own shares — approximately 5 percent of outstanding stock as of August 14 — through August 2029, with a total envelope of $300 million. Purchases will be executed on the Nasdaq and alternative trading venues at prevailing market prices, under the SEC's Rule 10b-18 safe harbor.

Management's rationale is straightforward: the share price doesn't reflect what the tungsten assets are actually worth. The buyback arrives on the heels of a heavily oversubscribed $800 million convertible note offering, which swelled the company's cash position to C$1.2 billion.

Sangdong Delivers the Goods

The operational catalyst behind the improving sentiment is the Sangdong mine in South Korea's Gangwon province, which began processing ore in July 2026. The ramp-up marks a decisive shift from construction and financing risk to measurable operating performance — throughput and cash conversion are now the metrics that matter.

Phase I of the operation is designed to process roughly 640,000 tonnes of ore annually, with an already-approved Phase II potentially doubling capacity to 1.2 million tonnes. The ambition: position Almonty as one of the largest tungsten concentrate suppliers outside China.

The second-quarter results, released in early August, illustrate the magnitude of the change. Revenue surged 498 percent to $43 million, fueled by record tungsten prices. The company swung to a net profit of $181.8 million, against a loss of $58.2 million in the same period a year earlier. Adjusted EBITDA flipped to $17.6 million from negative $4.8 million.

Analysts Reset Their Targets

The Street has responded with a flurry of upward revisions. DA Davidson lifted its price objective to $33, while Oppenheimer raised its target from $22 to $25 and reaffirmed an "Outperform" rating. The consensus per MarketBeat now stands at "Buy" with a mean target of $27.

GBC AG published fresh research on August 20, setting a year-end 2027 target of $30. The bank argues Almonty has reached an inflection point, with a long-term offtake agreement with Global Tungsten & Powders covering roughly 90 percent of planned Phase I production underpinning revenue estimates. GBC projects 2026 sales of $365.9 million and adjusted EBITDA of $329.7 million.

Institutional Vote of Confidence

The shareholder register is shifting accordingly. Leonteq Securities AG and Global Retirement Partners LLC have established new positions, while Rockefeller Capital Management increased its existing stake by 30 percent. Simply Wall St added the stock to its "fast-growing companies with high insider ownership" category on August 20 — a signal that management and shareholders are aligned on the growth trajectory.

A Structural Liquidity Overhaul

The operational story is running in parallel with a deliberate restructuring of how the stock trades. Almonty voluntarily delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange on July 31, and the Australian Securities Exchange approved a further delisting effective September 1, 2026. The company is consolidating liquidity on the Nasdaq and Frankfurt exchanges, while relocating its corporate headquarters strategically to Dillon, Montana.

Late June brought inclusion in both the Russell 1000 and the broader Russell 3000, adding another layer of institutional demand. With a market capitalization of roughly $5.1 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio near 58, the valuation already reflects considerable optimism.

The buyback launches August 24 — just as Sangdong's ramp-up becomes the key operational test for the quarters ahead. Whether the momentum holds will depend on how quickly the mine can add revenue beyond the still-critical Panasqueira operations, and whether the tungsten demand story — bolstered by AI applications — continues to support record pricing.