Can't Wait For New Mines: Almonty Taps Spanish Mine Waste To Break West's Tungsten Supply Crisis
Days after US miner Almonty struck a major supply deal with Rwanda, Africa's largest tungsten-producing country, the miner is fast-tracking its ascent to, in its own words, "become the leading Western producer of tungsten" as early as 2027.
It has now announced a long-term supply deal with Swedish mining equipment maker Sandvik AB, advancing a faster source of expanding conflict-free, non-Chinese tungsten supply ahead of a massive US defense rearmament supercycle.
The deal with Sandvik's Wolfram Bergbau und Hütten AG unit covers concentrate recovered from existing tailings at Almonty's Los Santos mine located in western Spain. It includes a conditional, one-time $3 million upfront payment for offtake rights and a take-or-pay commitment.
"The agreement is intended to create an expedited tungsten supply solution with the ability to deliver concentrate in notably less time than the development of a traditional mine," Almonty said.
For Almonty, that secures a buyer and customer funding to support the processing plant's reinstatement before production resumes. For Wolfram Bergbau und Hütten, it adds a new critical source of feedstock for Europe to be refined at its Austrian refining and powder manufacturing operations.
Almonty's two deals this week, securing a foothold in Rwanda and advancing tungsten recovery from mine tailings in western Spain, underscore the urgency of bringing supply online in the fastest manner possible. Why?
Well, the US rearmament supercycle is set to begin as the need to replenish bomb and missile stockpiles becomes a national priority after supplies were depleted in the Gulf conflict. Conventional mine development timelines risk falling short of near-term demand needs of the US government, which explains why Almonty is going this route.
As we've explained, miners such as Almonty that have proven production and can deliver to Western governments first will be the early winners amid the resource nationalism gripping the world, mainly because China, which controls 80% of global production of the industrial metal, is choking supplies.
Almonty's crown jewel mine, Sangdong in South Korea, entered production in June and is targeting 1.2 million tons of tungsten ore in 2027.
In July, Almonty expanded its agreement with Pennsylvania-based Global Tungsten & Powders, extending the term to 21 years, increasing total contracted volumes by 40% and improving pricing by approximately 6.3%. This establishes a direct route into US industrial and defense supply chains.
Almonty's most recent investor presentation describes itself as becoming the leading Western tungsten producer following Sangdong's Phase II expansion and an extension at Portugal's operating Panasqueira mine.
Almonty is pursuing that higher-value processing opportunity through a planned South Korean tungsten oxide plant with an initial annual capacity of 4,000 tons, then expanding to 6,000 tons.
Across the tungsten industry over the last several weeks, troubling developments of "resource nationalism" have emerged:
Almonty shares rose nearly 4% in New York premarket trading. The stock has traded between $8.28 and almost $25 this year.
Analysts tracked by Bloomberg have nine "Buy" ratings on Almonty, with an average 12-month price target of $25.90 a share.
As resource wars intensify, the West's AI, reindustrialization ambitions, and, of course, the incoming rearmament supercycle will be tested at the critical material level. That puts producers, especially ones based in the US such as Almonty, in focus as investors look beyond chips and data centers to the secure supply chains underpinning them. Without conflict-free and reliable access to tungsten and other critical materials, the West's revitalization is not possible.