Almonty's Multi-Pronged Pivot: Buybacks, Delistings, and a Korean Mine That's Finally Producing

Almonty exits ASX, holds C$1.2B cash, launches $300M buyback, and ramps up Sangdong tungsten mine.

The tungsten producer Almonty Industries is executing on several fronts at once. This week alone, the company is severing its final tie to the Australian Securities Exchange, having already departed Toronto in late July. The CHESS Depositary Interests were suspended at Thursday's close, with the formal delisting set for September 1. That leaves just two trading venues for the equity: Nasdaq under the ticker ALM and Frankfurt under ALI1.

The consolidation is part of a broader cleanup of the company's listing structure, and management's rationale is straightforward — concentrating volume on the primary exchanges should improve liquidity for institutional investors. Australian shareholders, however, lose a once-convenient access point.

A War Chest Built for Aggression

The delisting activity coincides with a dramatic reshaping of Almonty's balance sheet. Early June saw the closing of an oversubscribed convertible bond issue carrying a 2.25 percent coupon and a 2031 maturity. The gross proceeds reached $800 million, with initial purchasers exercising their option for additional notes in full.

The cash position at June 30 stood at C$1.2 billion, a sharp jump from C$268.4 million at the end of 2025. August brought additional shelf registrations for potential equity issuance of roughly $246.79 million, including a component tied to an employee share plan.

That financial firepower underpins the board's decision, announced Monday, to authorize a share buyback of up to $300 million. Over 36 months, the program could retire as many as 14.4 million common shares — approximately 5 percent of outstanding capital. The market's initial response was muted, with the stock easing about 1.2 percent since the announcement.

Sangdong Moves From Development to Delivery

While the capital markets work has dominated headlines, the operational story has quietly shifted into a new phase. In June, the Sangdong mine in South Korea's Gangwon Province transitioned from construction to production, with the processing plant now converting stockpiled ore into saleable tungsten concentrate.

Full utilization would put throughput capacity at roughly 640,000 tonnes of ore annually, and an already-approved Phase II expansion could lift that to 1.2 million tonnes. The ramp-up is the critical bridge from mine-building to cash-generating operations.

Second-quarter figures illustrate the scale of the transition. Revenue climbed 498 percent year-over-year to C$43.0 million, with mining operating earnings reaching C$26.1 million. The headline net profit of C$181.8 million, however, warrants scrutiny — roughly C$173.1 million of that figure stems from non-cash valuation gains on derivatives and warrants, a distortion investors should separate from underlying operational earnings.

The revenue surge was powered in part by extraordinary price dynamics. The average European APT price jumped from $453 per MTU in Q2 2025 to approximately $3,075 per MTU in Q2 2026 — a more than sixfold increase that has transformed the economics of tungsten production.

Contract Wins and Shareholder Returns

Mid-July brought an expansion of the long-term offtake agreement with Global Tungsten & Powders LLC. The contract's term was extended by six years, contracted volumes increased by 40 percent, and pricing terms improved by roughly 6.3 percent. The deal now represents approximately $490 million in contracted revenue, giving the company unusual visibility into future cash flows.

That visibility, combined with the strengthened balance sheet, has allowed management to return capital to shareholders. The buyback program is notable not just for its size but for its timing — it signals confidence that the current share price undervalues the company's trajectory.

A Stock Between Momentum and Consolidation

The shares currently trade at €15.48, roughly 25 percent below the 52-week high of €20.61 reached in April. The stock sits about 17 percent above its 50-day moving average, reflecting continued buying pressure, while standing 23 percent above the 200-day average — evidence that the medium-term uptrend remains intact despite recent consolidation.

The broader context is favorable. Western governments increasingly treat tungsten as a security matter rather than a niche commodities play, and defense buyers are actively seeking non-Chinese supply sources. Almonty has positioned itself as the flagship of that friend-shoring movement, with Washington's recent $500 million grant round for critical minerals — while not directly benefiting the company — signaling where state capital is heading.

The next test for Almonty is whether Sangdong's ramp-up translates into sustained revenue growth once the commissioning phase concludes. With a war chest exceeding C$1.2 billion, a buyback in motion, and a supply chain that Western buyers are eager to secure, the pieces are in place. Execution, as always, will be the differentiator.