Almonty Industries: Sangdong Moves From Construction Risk to Operating Risk, With First Concentrate Shipment Booked for October 24 and a Rwanda Supply Channel Already Scaling
Remarks by CEO Lewis Black at the 20th International Investment Forum, October 7, 2026
Almonty Industries CEO Lewis Black told the 20th International Investment Forum that Sangdong, the South Korean tungsten mine that is the company's largest asset, has completed its main construction hurdle and is now in a data-driven ramp phase. The first concentrate vessel is booked for October 24. Black appeared without slides, which he joked was a communications snafu, and the session ran as a free-form conversation. The commentary was candid about operational friction, but it also contained several details on timing, pricing and strategy that were not previously clear.
Sangdong: Grinding Is Done, Flotation Is the Current Task
Black said the grinding circuit was commissioned through full throughput about two months ago, and the focus has shifted to tuning the flotation system. He described grind size as the issue that "kept me up" at night, and said recoveries are currently "right where we would expect them." The plant is running about 16 hours a day, with run time being extended by roughly two hours every few days. That is well short of continuous operation, so the ramp is still at an early stage.
Black was open about the setbacks. Two days before the presentation, three slurry pipes were found damaged from installation, which caused an overflow in the water treatment plant. Replacement pipes had to be flown in from Europe because they were the one spare the company did not hold. The problem was resolved quickly, but it shows how much can go wrong during commissioning. In his words, "everything that can break will break."
Black framed the stage as a change in risk profile. "We've migrated from the risk profile of building" what he called the largest tungsten construction project since the 1970s, "on the side of a mountain," to operating it. Investors should read that carefully. Construction risk is largely behind the company, but operating risk is not. Feed grades, recoveries, concentrate grade and plant availability now determine the outcome, and Black said this is where he starts "squeezing."
One design choice is notable. Black said Almonty has decided that a 60% concentrate grade is the most efficient target at Sangdong, rather than pushing toward 68%. A slightly lower grade allows higher throughput and better blending. He cited Panasqueira in Portugal as the template: the 136-year-old mine has the highest recoveries of any gravity plant in the world, according to Black, and generated a margin of over 63% last quarter.
Phase 2 Equipment Orders Within Weeks; Oxide Plant Construction Slated for 2027
Phase 2 planning is already moving. Black said Almonty will order the mill equipment over the next four to six weeks and has already started underground mine infrastructure work. He expects the effect of Phase 2 to show during next year. That implies capital commitments beginning before Phase 1 has demonstrated stable steady-state operations, which is a point investors should weigh.
On downstream integration, Black said the company has finally identified a site for a tungsten oxide plant in conjunction with the regional government. Construction is expected to begin in early 2027, in the first or second quarter, depending on land and permits. He said the largest companies in Korea have visited the site and that there is "an enormous groundswell" for a midstream plant, with more news expected before year-end. In the interim, Black said material can be tolled for conversion. The timetable depends on permitting, which he flagged as a variable.
On offtake, Black said the contract with what he described as the West's largest oxide producer was extended by six years and repriced upward across the entire contract. He attributed that to the customer concluding that many of the projects now being promoted are unlikely to reach the market. He said all Almonty contracts are priced off spot, so the company has full upside exposure but no price floor.
Los Santos: A Commercial Tailings Test in Spain
Black described Los Santos in Spain as an attempt to build a European supply source without a conventional new mine. Almonty has rehabilitated three of four pits and plans to use the fourth for old tailings. The company spent four years developing a process to recover tungsten from those tailings, which has worked in the lab and pilot plant. If it works at commercial scale, it would be the first time anyone has done so.
The commercial structure is notable. Black said Almonty would need an offtaker willing to help limit downside by providing a price floor, and said the current offtaker is "very environmentally focused." The downside case is limited, since Almonty has to reclaim the site anyway: "If I'm right, we're geniuses. And if I'm wrong, I end up reclaiming a site I had to reclaim anyway."
Black also acknowledged limits. Tungsten recovery from tailings yields only a low-grade concentrate, which narrows the set of customers who can consume it. He dismissed the notion that gold-style tailings recovery techniques would work, saying tungsten is brittle and shatters under centrifugal processing, and that careless attempts would worsen reclamation sites. This was a response to the news that Spanish authorities have locked down the area, which Black did not contest. He said he expects European governments to require credible plans from applicants. Almonty also has what Black called 136 years of tailings at Panasqueira as potential feed.
Rwanda: A Stage 1 Template With Rapid Volume
Black described the Rwanda arrangement as a "tungsten treaty between a company and a government" that required considerable support from the US government, and he said it took longer than he wanted. The company is already collecting material and, according to Black, will be the largest tungsten exporter out of Rwanda as of next month, less than two months after the deal was finalized. He called this "Stage 1" and said Almonty now has a blueprint it can transplant to other jurisdictions with small-scale tungsten mining.
Black emphasized that he resisted a US push to limit Rwandan material to US customers, noting that "tungsten is global" and that US-only sales would leave the company exposed to customers who "will squeeze me on price like you wouldn't believe." Customers in Europe, the US and South Korea are said to be satisfied. He said his door is open for the next 24 months to other supply, though no junior miner has called.
Montana: Slow, Quiet and Expensive
Black was blunt about the US project. He said he has watched three projects in Montana "get whacked by the NGOs" and does not intend to be the fourth. Almonty has bought most of the land around the mine and is working through the last parcel. He said state permits follow a fixed process that takes time, regardless of faster federal routes. He also acknowledged that the project costs "twice the price to mine and operate in the US compared to Europe." The company's headquarters have moved to Dillon, and Black said the strategy is to work quietly because US NGOs are "well funded, angry and aggressive." There is no near-term catalyst here.
Tungsten Market: APT at $2,700, Down $350, With Scrap as a Swing Factor
With public price assessments no longer easily accessible, Black offered a guide: the average APT price is currently $2,700 per metric ton unit, down $350. He urged investors to look at where prices were two years ago rather than the recent decline, noting that he would have been delighted with an average of $1,000 three years ago. He said he sees no demand destruction and described the core problem as availability.
Black noted that scrap is currently cheap because the US banned exports and prices there collapsed, and Europe is expected to follow. His argument is that scrap supply is finite, and if China loses access to European scrap it will have to return to the Western concentrate market, pushing Chinese prices higher. This is a bullish thesis, but it is Black's own view of an "opaque and dynamic" market, and the recent $350 decline shows that the price path is not one-directional.
Molybdenum, Corporate Structure and Share Price
Molybdenum drilling at Sangdong is underway, and the qualified person is expected on site shortly to begin updating the resource. Black said he is a fan of the asset. Almonty does not plan to spin off the molybdenum project; it will remain under the Almonty Industries umbrella through a subsidiary, Almonty Korea Molybdenum Corporation, which already exists. Black said a separate listing would just mean "more paperwork." He also said there are no plans to use the neighboring limestone mine's land.
On the share price, Black declined to promise a specific catalyst, saying Almonty has tracked critical-metals peers such as MP Materials and that he prefers liquidity, with average daily volume of 6.5 million to 6.6 million shares, to a higher price on thin trading. His suggestion was that investors wait for production data from Sangdong. That is a fair acknowledgment that the stock's next leg depends on operating results rather than corporate actions.