Almonty Ties Up Loose Ends as Sangdong Inches Toward First Tungsten Cargo

Almonty closed at EUR 10.61, up 2.7%, as it settled with Pure Tungsten and advanced its Sangdong tungsten project toward commercial operation.

Almonty has spent the past few weeks doing two things at once: pushing its South Korean tungsten project closer to full commercial operation, and tidying up the paper trail behind it. The two threads converged on Friday, when the stock added 2.7% to close at EUR 10.61 — a move that had more to do with the broader critical metals complex than with anything in the company's own news flow.

That point was made plainly by CEO Lewis Black on Wednesday: the shares were tracking peers in the sector, not reacting to a company-specific catalyst. Even so, Almonty's paper carries a gain of roughly 34% since the start of the year, a sign that appetite for resource-strategic names has not faded.

A Settlement, and What It Actually Says

On October 2, Almonty disclosed a legal settlement with Pure Tungsten, under which the counterparty issued a corrective statement. The correction makes clear that Tiger Kim never held a position as an executive, director or senior officer at Almonty. His work as an independent contractor came to an end on December 31, 2015.

The distinction matters more than it might appear. A prior working relationship is not the same thing as a leadership role, and in a niche market dominated by a handful of players, clarity about who actually carried responsibility is worth something. Almonty filed the agreement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Form 6-K, drawing a line under a potential source of distraction.

Nothing in the settlement speaks to output volumes or revenue. It neither adds operational momentum nor imposes a new burden on the business — its value lies in correcting a specific misattribution.

The same lens applies to a separate governance item: Almonty named PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as its auditor effective September 29, succeeding Zeifmans LLP. The company stated explicitly that the change did not stem from any disagreement over accounting or the scope of an audit. That caveat cuts both ways — reading the switch as evidence of balance-sheet trouble would be as unwarranted as treating it as a seal of approval for future numbers.

Where the Ramp-Up Actually Stands

The larger story remains Almonty's path from operating permit to expanded production. On September 17, the company received final inspection certificates for the processing plant and crushing facilities at Sangdong, clearing commercial operation. Roughly two weeks ago, it reported the first export-ready bags of tungsten concentrate, with the mill running 13 hours a day against a target of 24.

That gap — between what has been achieved and what has been announced — is the line worth watching. The permits and the first concentrate are operational facts. The longer daily runtime remains, in that disclosure, a plan. Friday's 2.7% gain offers no proof that the expansion has been implemented, nor that the legal clarification drove the move.

Optimization work at the facilities continues, and the first shipment of concentrate is booked for October 24. Since the initial production announcement, the stock has shed 8.9% — a reminder that operational milestones can be quickly drowned out when the whole sector swings.

For investors, the task is to keep the two strands apart. Credible corporate communication provides orientation; it does not substitute for further demonstrated operating progress.