Almonty's Sangdong Mine Shifts From Promise to Payload as Tungsten Prices Hit Historic Peaks

Almonty's Sangdong mine begins producing tungsten concentrate, Q2 revenue surges 498% to C$43M, but net profit is largely driven by non-cash derivative gains.

The tungsten market's tightest squeeze in years is meeting its newest supply source. Almonty Industries has quietly crossed a threshold that investors have been waiting on for the better part of a decade: the Sangdong mine in South Korea is now processing ore and turning out saleable tungsten concentrate.

The operational milestone lands alongside quarterly results that show just how far the company has traveled. Revenue for the second quarter of 2026 came in at C$43.0 million, a 498 percent surge year over year, while adjusted EBITDA swung from a C$4.8 million loss to a C$17.6 million gain. The headline net profit of C$181 million — or C$181.8 million, depending on the reporting cut — deserves a closer look, however. Roughly C$173.1 million of that figure stems from non-cash valuation gains on derivatives, meaning the underlying operating picture is far more modest than the bottom line suggests.

A Second Production Engine Comes Online

Portugal's Panasqueira mine remains the workhorse for now, contributing C$42.9 million of that quarterly revenue. European prices for ammonium paratungstate, the key tungsten intermediate, climbed to US$3,075 per MTU, giving the legacy asset a tailwind. But Sangdong is the growth story, and it is finally delivering. CEO Lewis Black told shareholders in a letter that the transition to producing saleable concentrate marks the company's move from construction phase to production phase — a shift that reframes the investment case entirely.

The timing looks fortunate. Black noted that tungsten prices have reached historic highs, and that supply constraints have become a more binding constraint on the market than demand. Sangdong, in other words, is coming online at precisely the moment when buyers are scrambling for material.

Contract Extension Locks In Demand

The demand side is getting firmer, too. Almonty has extended its supply agreement with Global Tungsten & Powders LLC by six years, increased contracted volumes by 40 percent, and improved pricing terms by roughly 6.3 percent. That deal gives the company a clearer revenue runway as Sangdong ramps up.

The balance sheet, meanwhile, is in a position most junior miners would envy. Cash reserves stood at C$1.23 billion as of June 30, largely fueled by an oversubscribed convertible bond offering in June that raised US$800 million with a 2.25 percent coupon and a 2031 maturity.

Listing Consolidation Sharpens the Focus

Amid the operational news, Almonty is quietly reshaping its public market footprint. The company has pulled its listing from the Toronto Stock Exchange, with trading there ending July 31, and is scheduled for formal delisting from Australia's ASX on September 1. CHESS Depositary Interests will cease trading at the close of business on August 28. That leaves Nasdaq and Frankfurt as the two venues for the stock — a deliberate move to centralize liquidity where the company sees its core investor base.

The consolidation coincides with a buyback program announced Monday of up to US$300 million, or 14.4 million shares, spread over 36 months. Management framed the repurchase as a response to the gap between the share price and the underlying value of the tungsten assets. The stock has gained just 0.7 percent since the announcement — a muted reaction that suggests investors are keeping their powder dry.

Analyst Views Diverge

The research community is split on what comes next. Diamond Equity Research trimmed its fiscal 2026 EPS estimate from US$0.55 to US$0.39 on August 19, citing softer near-term results while maintaining a fundamentally positive stance. Weiss Ratings, by contrast, upgraded its view on August 12 from "Sell (D-)" to "Hold (C-)." A separate Diamond Equity note from August 14 updated the 2026 outlook without a clear rating change, leaving the analyst picture somewhat muddled.

The Market's Verdict So Far

The share price tells its own story. At €15.79 on Wednesday, the stock is down 2.5 percent from Tuesday's close of €16.20 — a pullback that looks modest against a 34 percent gain over the past month. The recent run has been driven by the production start and surrounding news flow, though the stock still sits roughly 23 percent below its 52-week high of €20.61, set in mid-April.

That gap between the recent rally and the all-time high captures the lingering question for investors: whether the operational substance will eventually match the market's expectations. The answer will come not from announcements but from consistent concentrate sales in the quarters ahead. Sangdong's ramp-up is no longer a promise — it is a process, and the market is watching to see how quickly it delivers.