Almonty's Perfect Storm: A New Finance Chief, a Shareholder Vote, and a Surging Tungsten Market

Almonty shares surge 616% as Sangdong mine nears full capacity, capitalizing on Western supply chain shift ahead of US defense ban on Chinese tungsten.

Almonty Industries enters a defining stretch this week. On June 1, Jorge Beristain takes over as chief financial officer. Eight days later, shareholders gather for the annual meeting in Toronto. The timing is no accident — the company is racing to capitalise on a tungsten market that has been turned upside down by geopolitics.

The stock has already priced in much of the optimism. Shares closed Thursday at C$28.25 on the TSX, up 134.83% year to date and a staggering 616.10% over twelve months. That rally has pushed the relative strength index to 85.1, signalling an overheated short-term picture. Yet the underlying narrative continues to gain weight.

A technical breakout on May 27 underscored the shift. Almonty closed at C$28.13 in Toronto and US$20.33 in US trading, both comfortably above the 38-day moving average. More tellingly, the share price now sits roughly 75% above its 200-day moving average — a level that suggests a fundamental revaluation rather than a fleeting spike.

That revaluation is grounded in real operating momentum. Revenue for the first quarter of 2026 surged 221% to C$25.4 million. Adjusted EBITDA swung to a positive C$6.1 million from a loss of C$2.4 million in the year-ago period. Operating cash flow turned positive as well, reaching C$9.7 million against an outflow of C$4.4 million.

The engine behind the numbers is Sangdong, Almonty's South Korean tungsten mine. Phase 1 started up on March 17, with commercial production expected to reach full capacity by the third quarter. At full tilt, Sangdong could supply roughly 40% of the world's tungsten demand outside China. That single mine therefore carries strategic weight far beyond its size.

Almonty's second source, the Panasqueira mine in Portugal, remains active. A third project is taking shape in Montana: the fully owned Gentung Browns Lake Tungsten Project in Beaverhead County, where the company is targeting production readiness in the second half of 2026. Long-term potential there is estimated at 140,000 MTUs.

The company's balance sheet provides room to execute. Cash stood at US$259.9 million at the most recent count, with working capital of US$169.5 million. That buffer matters because the window for action is narrowing.

A US defence procurement rule — DFARS 252.225-7052 — takes effect on January 1, 2027. From that date, defence contractors will be banned from sourcing certain tungsten powders and alloys from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. Since China controls more than 80% of global tungsten production, Western supply chains are scrambling for alternatives. The European Union is meanwhile exploring strategic reserves for tungsten along with gallium, rare earths, magnesium, germanium and graphite.

Almonty has already moved closer to its target market. In April the company relocated its corporate headquarters to Dillon, Montana, physically nearer to Western defence and industrial customers.

The new CFO arrives with capital markets expertise honed in the commodities sector. Beristain, a CFA charterholder for more than 25 years, was most recently vice president of finance at Ryerson Holding, a metals service centre with US$5 billion in revenue. Before that he led the finance function at Central Steel & Wire, a Ryerson subsidiary with US$800 million in sales. He succeeds Brian Fox, with development chief Guillaume de Lamaziere serving as interim CFO until June 1.

At the June 9 annual meeting, voting shareholders — those on record as of April 24 — will approve the 2025 financial statements, fix the board at seven members, and reappoint Zeifmans LLP as auditor. The company has approximately 284 million common shares outstanding. A new equity plan covering options, RSUs and deferred share units will also be on the ballot.

The meeting offers a rare platform for management to outline how it plans to finance and control two expanding operations — Sangdong and Montana — simultaneously. After a stock run of this magnitude, operational momentum alone no longer suffices. The market wants to see a coherent financial roadmap.

The shares currently sit 11.91% below their recent high. With the RSI deep in overbought territory, the room for error is slim. But the structural forces aligning behind tungsten — a US military deadline, China's chokehold on supply, and the emergence of new Western sources — give Almonty a story that few small-cap miners can match. Now the company has to deliver on the execution side.