American Tungsten Corp. (TSXV: TUNG, OTCQB: DEMRF)
Building America’s Defense Critical Metals Supply
Almonty Industries (NASDAQ: ALM; TSX: AII) shares jumped 5.7% on Tuesday after the company announced a dramatic six-year extension to its long-term offtake agreement for tungsten concentrate from the Sangdong mine in South Korea, pushing the contract’s reach deep into the late 2040s and tightening Western access to a metal now at the center of a global supply storm.
The amended deal with Global Tungsten & Powders (GTP), a unit of Austria’s Plansee Group and a critical tungsten powder supplier to U.S. defense and industrial supply chains, stretches the contract term from 15 years to 21 years from first delivery. Total contracted volumes rise 40% — from 3.15 million metric tonne units (MTU) to 4.41 million MTU — with minimum annual offtake set at 210,000 MTU once full ramp-up is achieved. Pricing across the entire contract has also been revised upward by roughly 6.3%. The agreement covers about 90% of the mine’s Phase I tungsten concentrate output.
“GTP and the Plansee Group have stood behind the Sangdong mine since 2018, and this amendment reflects both the strength of that partnership and what Sangdong’s conflict-free tungsten is worth in today’s market,” said Almonty CEO Lewis Black. He added that extending the term to 21 years, lifting contracted volumes by 40%, and raising expected annual revenue by approximately 6.3% gives Almonty a depth of contracted revenue visibility unmatched by any producer in the industry.
The extension lands at a moment of extreme tightness in global tungsten markets. China controls nearly 80% of the world’s mined tungsten supply and has been systematically tightening its export grip. In February 2025, Beijing imposed export controls on multiple tungsten products; by December, it had named just 15 companies permitted to export the metal in 2026 and 2027, effectively placing volumes and destinations under direct state control. Ammonium paratungstate (APT), the benchmark intermediate product, has rocketed from about $331 per MTU at the start of 2025 to nearly $1,900 by February 2026 — an almost eightfold surge that has comfortably outpaced both gold and oil over the same period.
At the same time, Western militaries are burning through tungsten-heavy munitions at an accelerated pace because of the war in Ukraine and turmoil in the Middle East, making weapons stockpile replenishment an urgent priority. The U.S. Department of Defense has formalized a rule that, starting January 1, 2027, prohibits procurement of tungsten mined, refined, or processed in China, Russia, Iran, or North Korea. That regulatory shift has poured fuel on the race for alternative supply, with Bloomberg data showing that the combined market value of Almonty and EQ Resources has ballooned by roughly $5.4 billion since the beginning of 2025.
Black framed the extended contract as a direct reflection of Sangdong’s staying power. “The 21-year term reflects the longevity of this project,” he said. “Increasing contracted volumes by 40% and improving annual revenue visibility gives Almonty a contracted revenue depth that no producers in our industry can match.”
The agreement relates solely to Phase I production and does not cover a planned Phase II expansion, yet it already locks in long-term offtake for roughly 90% of the mine’s current output. In a market reshaped by China’s tightening supply walls and historically elevated prices, the revised deal carves out a rare, durable Western channel for conflict-free tungsten — securing a lifeline that defense and industrial buyers are increasingly desperate to find.
