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    Almonty’s Sangdong tungsten mine: project economics and offtake lens for engineers

    September 21, 2026|

    Reviewed by Joe Ashwell

    Almonty’s Sangdong tungsten mine: project economics and offtake lens for engineers

    First reported on MINING.com

    30 Second Briefing

    Almonty Industries has secured South Korean approval to commercially process tungsten concentrate at the redeveloped Sangdong underground mine, targeting about 200,000 metric tonne units (MTU) per year from a new crushing and processing plant built with over $100 million of investment. Mining facility inspection certificates issued on 17 September authorise operation of the plant and sale of concentrate domestically and overseas, with more than 90% of Phase I output locked into a 21‑year, 4,410,000 MTU offtake to Global Tungsten & Powders. The project positions a large‑scale, non‑Chinese tungsten supply ahead of tighter US defence procurement rules from January 2027.

    Technical Brief

    • Mining facility inspection certificates were issued on 17 September, formally certifying Sangdong’s crushing and processing installations.
    • Certification explicitly covers both domestic and export sales of tungsten concentrate from the new plant.
    • Sangdong operated as one of the world’s largest tungsten mines until suspension in the early 1990s downturn.
    • Almonty has injected over $100 million since 2015 to redevelop Sangdong as a modern underground operation.
    • Ore has been run through the new plant since mid‑2026, de‑risking the subsequent concentrate ramp‑up.
    • Phase I offtake with Global Tungsten & Powders spans 21 years and totals 4,410,000 MTU.
    • The GTP contract requires at least 210,000 MTU of concentrate per year from Sangdong Phase I.
    • Separate supply from Los Santos tailings to Sandvik adds a secondary non‑Chinese tungsten stream to Almonty’s portfolio.

    Our Take

    With more than 90% of Sangdong Phase I tungsten output already under offtake to Global Tungsten & Powders and a separate long-term take-or-pay deal for Los Santos tailings with Sandvik’s Wolfram unit, Almonty Industries is locking in a highly contracted sales book that should de-risk cash flow but leaves limited uncommitted tonnage for price upside.

    Linking Sangdong tungsten with the NICO deposit’s 12% share of global bismuth reserves and 1.1 million ounces of in-situ gold underlines that downstream buyers such as Plansee Group and Sandvik are increasingly looking to integrated critical-mineral supply chains that bundle tungsten with co-products relevant to electronics and alloy markets.

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    Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.

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