Almonty's Tungsten Gambit: A $1.2 Billion Cash Pile, a Korean Mine Ramp-Up, and a 21-Year Customer Lock-In

Almonty swings to $181.8M profit as Sangdong ramps, expands offtake deal, and builds $1.2B war chest for parallel global projects.

The numbers that Almonty Industries posted for the second quarter of 2026 would have been unthinkable twelve months earlier. The tungsten producer swung from a net loss of $58.2 million in the year-ago period to a net profit of $181.8 million — a swing of roughly $240 million that underscores just how quickly the company's strategic bet on South Korea has begun to pay off.

The engine behind that turnaround is Sangdong, the flagship mine in Gangwon Province that has now entered commercial production. Revenue for the quarter jumped 498% year over year to $43 million, and climbed 69% sequentially. Mining operating income came in at $26.1 million, while adjusted EBITDA reached $17.6 million — a swing of more than $22 million from the negative $4.8 million recorded in the same quarter last year.

A War Chest Built for Parallel Expansion

What makes the operational turnaround particularly notable is the financial firepower now sitting behind it. In June, Almonty placed a convertible bond worth $800 million that was heavily oversubscribed, leaving the company with roughly $1.2 billion in cash at the end of the quarter. For a miner of Almonty's scale, that is an extraordinary buffer — and it changes the company's strategic calculus.

CEO Lewis Black has been explicit about what that capital enables: instead of financing projects sequentially, Almonty can now advance multiple capital-intensive initiatives at the same time. That means pushing ahead with the Phase II expansion at Sangdong, building a tungsten oxide plant in South Korea, developing the Gentung project in Montana, and expanding the Panasqueira mine in Portugal — all concurrently.

The cash position also serves a geopolitical purpose. Black said in a recent interview that western governments and defense contractors are actively seeking alternatives to Chinese supply chains, and Almonty is positioning itself as a conflict-free source of a metal deemed critical for armor, munitions, and high-performance electronics. US procurement bans affecting the defense industry, combined with Chinese export restrictions, have exposed the vulnerability of western buyers who have long relied on Chinese tungsten.

The Contract That Got Bigger

Alongside the financing story, Almonty has strengthened its commercial foundation. The offtake agreement for Sangdong with Global Tungsten & Powders, a subsidiary of the Plansee Group, has been substantially expanded. The contract term now runs 21 years, up from 15, and the Phase I volume commitment has been raised by 40% to 4.41 million MTU. The price under the agreement has also increased by 6.3%.

Global Tungsten & Powders will now absorb roughly 90% of Sangdong's Phase I output. Almonty estimates the expanded agreement adds at least $30 million in annual revenue, bringing the total contract value to around $490 million. The incremental uplift versus the previous arrangement is approximately $630 million — a figure that reflects both the longer duration and the higher volumes.

Processing at Sangdong began in early July, meaning the mine has been producing for roughly six weeks. Management is careful to temper expectations, however: Phase I remains in its commissioning and ramp-up phase, and full capacity has yet to be reached.

What Full Capacity Looks Like

The long-term targets for Sangdong remain unchanged. Once the mine reaches full operation, ore throughput is expected to hit approximately 640,000 tonnes per year. The already-approved Phase II expansion would more than double that, lifting capacity to as much as 1.2 million tonnes annually.

That trajectory matters because the supply picture for tungsten outside China remains tight. Market observers point to a price dynamic that favors western producers: when Chinese export restrictions or trade conflicts constrict supply, tungsten prices tend to spike sharply, and miners with established operations outside China benefit disproportionately.

The combination of a 21-year offtake agreement and a balance sheet with roughly $1.2 billion in cash substantially de-risks the expansion pipeline in the US and Portugal. Whether that strategic positioning translates into concrete decisions on new sites should become clearer in the coming months — Black has indicated that discussions with western governments and defense companies are already underway.

The second half of the year will test whether Almonty can sustain the pace of production growth at Sangdong. With the cash reserve in place and the offtake contract locked in, the company has bought itself both time and optionality — a position few mid-tier miners can claim.