Almonty’s high-grade South Korea tungsten mine resumes after 30 years

Almonty Industries (Nasdaq: ALM; TSX: AII) says its Sangdong mine in South Korea, with three times the global average tungsten grade, has resumed commercial production after more than 30 years. 

Crews have completed the first stage of commissioning the processing plant designed to handle about 640,000 tonnes of ore annually, yielding roughly 2,300 tonnes of tungsten concentrate per year, Almonty said this week. The company has invested more than $100 million since 2015 and plans to double output in 2027. 

“This is a significant milestone in the effort by the United States and its allies to diversify supply chains for critical minerals away from China, which currently produces approximately 88% of the world’s tungsten supply,” Almonty CEO Lewis Black said in a news release. “With commissioning now complete, our focus turns to optimizing throughput and advancing toward full commercial production.”  

Sangdong has an expected mine life exceeding 45 years and an average ore grade of about 0.51% tungsten trioxide (WO₃), roughly three times the worldwide average. At full capacity, Sangdong is expected to supply about 40% of global tungsten demand outside China, Almonty said.

Defence metal

Tungsten is a smaller market among metals, but the industries that depend on it are getting exponentially bigger while a supply shortage buoys the price. It is the material of choice for a key defence application – what the military calls penetrators – high-density, armour-piercing projectiles. 

Shares in Almonty Industries have doubled this year to C$24.76 apiece in Toronto, valuing the company at C$6.94 billion ($5.07 billion). 

American tungsten production ceased in 2015. The U.S. had been mining tungsten, but it was no longer commercially viable due to low prices and competition from China. Now prices have tripled and other jurisdictions are scrambling to develop tungsten projects.

In Canada, New Brunswick is advancing Northcliff Resources’ (TSX: NCF; US-OTC: NCFFF) Sisson tungsten project that Ottawa fast-tracked to its Major Projects Office in November. 

Global projects

United States Antimony (NYSE-A: UAMY) said this month a new resource for its Fostung tungsten project in Ontario shows the deposit holds raw metals that would be worth about $4.6 billion at current prices.

Great Western Mining (LSE-A: GWMO) says it has raised cash to fast-track drilling at its Defender-Pine Crow tungsten project in Nevada after channels at Defender returned 16 metres grading 0.3% tungsten trioxide. In the same state, Guardian Metal Resources (LSE-A: GMET; US-OTC: GMTLF) is betting on its Pilot Mountain project that’s slated for completion this year.

Fireweed Metals (TSXV: FWZ; US-OTC: FWEDF) has received millions in Canadian and U.S. government funding for its Mactung deposit in Yukon and the Northwest Territories. One of the world’s largest and highest grade projects, it holds 41.5 million indicated tonnes grading 0.73% tungsten trioxide (WO₃) for nearly 301.6 million kg of WO_3; and 12.2 million inferred tonnes at 0.59% WO₃, containing 72.1 million kg of WO₃.

The U.S. Export-Import Bank said last month it may finance Kazakh company QazMoly with $240 million to develop the Drozhilov project in Kazakhstan. It would cover a “significant portion” of the project’s capital requirements, QazMoly said.

Last year, Trinity Metals, a Rwandan miner controlled by private UK-based industrialist TechMet, began shipping tungsten concentrate from the Nyakabingo mine in Rwanda to the U.S.

‘Korean trinity’

Located in Gangwon province east of Seoul, the Sangdong mine was historically one of the world’s largest tungsten producers before operations were suspended in the early 1990s following a prolonged downturn in commodity prices.

Almonty’s redevelopment includes about 4 km of underground tunnel development, a mineral processing plant equipped with SAG and ball mills supplied by Metso, and advanced monitoring systems. 

The second stage expansion, the development of the company’s tungsten oxide facility and the adjacent Sangdong molybdenum deposit will form the foundation of what Almonty’s calls the Korean trinity, Lewis said.

“It’s a fully integrated strategic-mineral value chain that positions South Korea as a global hub for the production, refining, and upgrading of tungsten.”