Almonty Taps a Wall Street Veteran as Finance Chief Just as Its Korean Mine Starts Delivering the Numbers

Almonty's Sangdong mine shifts to commercial production; Q1 output data, phase-2 expansion vote, and new CFO set to test market after 630% stock surge.

Almonty Industries is entering a stretch of weeks that will determine whether the market’s massive bet on its tungsten story has been premature. The Canadian miner’s Sangdong project in South Korea has shifted from development to commercial production, and on 20 May the company will release its first full quarter of output data. Two days before the annual shareholder meeting on 9 June, investors will vote on a phase?2 expansion that would double processing capacity. And on 1 June, Jorge Beristain steps into the chief financial officer role, taking over a finance function that must now support a real revenue?generating operation rather than a developer’s budget.

Beristain comes from Ryerson Holding, a NYSE?listed metals service company with roughly US$5 billion in sales, where he served as vice president of finance and advised both the board and the executive team during a period that saw Ryerson’s market capitalisation double. Before that he led metals and mining equity research for Deutsche Bank Securities in the Americas and worked as a senior analyst bridging natural?resource companies and institutional investors. He also spent time as CFO of Central Steel & Wire, a Ryerson subsidiary with around US$800 million in revenue. Brian Fox has left the CFO post with immediate effect; Guillaume de Lamaziere, a veteran of AIG Asset Management, Banque AIG in Paris and Goldman Sachs, will handle the finance function on an interim basis until Beristain arrives.

The timing of the leadership change is no accident. Almonty finished commissioning the first development phase of Sangdong in March, and the plant is now running at a nameplate capacity of 640,000 tonnes of ore per year. That should eventually yield 2,300 tonnes of tungsten concentrate annually. Analysts at DA Davidson expect full utilisation to be reached as early as the second quarter. The Q1 report due on 20 May will be the first clean look at how quickly the ramp?up is translating into sales. The previous quarter’s figures disappointed, coming in 12 percent below consensus estimates.

The stock’s run?up has been spectacular. Over the past twelve months shares have surged roughly 630 percent, and the year?to?date gain stands at about 123 percent. On Friday the equity closed at C$26.88, well below the recent high of C$32.07 but still near the top of its historic range. The number of funds holding Almonty stock has climbed to 107, suggesting that institutional appetite remains strong despite a net loss of C$162 million in the prior fiscal year. The company explains that loss was almost entirely an accounting adjustment tied to the soaring share price rather than a cash drain.

Geopolitical tailwinds are adding ballast to the narrative. A US government report published on 29 April classified import dependency on critical minerals as a direct threat to national defence. Starting in January 2027, American defence contractors will be required to source all tungsten from outside China. Almonty already enjoys an exemption from US import tariffs that took effect in early April, and it has long?term supply agreements with Global Tungsten & Powders as well as a binding off?take contract with Tungsten Parts Wyoming for at least 40 tonnes of tungsten oxide per month. The metal is used in munitions, drones and rockets.

On 8 June shareholders will vote on the second expansion stage, which would lift processing capacity to roughly 1.2 million tonnes of ore per year and push annual output beyond 460,000 metric tonne units. The expansion is expected to be completed by 2027. Almonty ended last year with about C$268 million in cash, enough to finance the build?out without immediate dilution. The annual general meeting in Toronto the following day will see seven directors stand for election.

Beristain’s mandate goes beyond routine financial stewardship. He must navigate the interplay between production reports that could make or break the stock, a shareholder vote on a major capital outlay, and a structural shift in the US tungsten supply chain that gives Almonty a strategic edge. The 20 May quarterly numbers will be the first real test of whether the company can deliver on the promise that has already driven its shares into orbit.