Almonty Restarts South Korea Tungsten Mine After 30 Years to Cut China Dependence

By Ruixin Tungsten Carbide | March 26, 2026 | ruixintungstencarbide.com

The Restart: 30 Years to This Moment

The Almonty Sangdong tungsten mine in Gangwon Province, South Korea, completed Phase 1 commissioning on March 16, 2026, returning to commercial production after more than 30 years of inactivity. The announcement was covered by Streetwise Reports on March 23 and represents the most substantive addition to non-Chinese tungsten supply capacity since the current price surge began in early 2025.

Sangdong was historically one of the largest tungsten mines outside China. It closed decades ago when low prices made operation uneconomic. Those conditions have reversed completely. With APT prices at USD 2,250 per metric ton unit and tungsten carbide powder up over 123% year-to-date, the economics of Western tungsten production have transformed. Almonty’s stock has risen from roughly USD 2–3 to around USD 22 over the past two years, reflecting investor recognition of this shift.

Lewis Black, Almonty’s chairman, president, and CEO, stated that Phase 1 commissioning marks 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. With commissioning complete, the focus turns to optimizing throughput and advancing toward full commercial production.

Built for the NDAA 2027 Deadline

The timing of the Sangdong restart is not coincidental. Under the US National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), from January 1, 2027, defense contractors are prohibited from delivering products containing tungsten heavy alloy mined, refined, or produced in China, Iran, North Korea, or Russia. Defense manufacturers have less than nine months to establish compliant supply chains.

Sangdong is directly positioned to serve this demand. Black explicitly framed the Phase 2 expansion and the development of an adjacent tungsten oxide facility around what he called the US defense procurement requirements mandating non-China tungsten sourcing after 2027. Almonty operates across South Korea, Portugal (Panasqueira mine), Spain (Los Santos and Valtreixal), and the US (Montana) — a geographic spread designed to serve multiple Western markets simultaneously.

The Fastmarkets analysis of US tungsten defense supply chains noted that the NDAA deadline creates a guaranteed procurement wave for compliant material in the second half of 2026, as defense contractors audit their supply chains and establish new sourcing relationships. Sangdong is one of very few facilities that can credibly supply that demand at scale.

The Korean Trinity: Mine, Refinery, Molybdenum

Almonty’s longer-term plan for Sangdong goes well beyond ore extraction. Black described a concept he calls the Korean Trinity: a fully integrated strategic-mineral value chain positioning South Korea as a global hub for tungsten production, refining, and upgrading. The three components are the Sangdong tungsten mine, an adjacent tungsten oxide refining facility currently in development, and the Sangdong Molybdenum deposit immediately next to the mine.

Vertical integration matters in this market. A mine that produces only concentrate remains exposed to the refining bottlenecks that have contributed to APT price spikes. A facility that can process concentrate through to oxide or powder reduces that exposure and adds value that the concentrate market cannot capture. The molybdenum deposit provides a secondary revenue stream that improves project economics and reduces single-commodity risk.

Market Context: Tightest Tungsten Market on Record

The Sangdong restart is happening against the backdrop of what BMO Capital Markets VP of commodity research George Heppel described as the tightest tungsten market he has ever seen. Heppel compared the current situation to the lithium market in 2021, but noted a critical difference: tungsten does not have a backlog of mines ready to enter production. Lithium had projects in the pipeline that eventually caught up with demand. Tungsten does not.

That context makes Sangdong more significant than its initial production volumes suggest. The mine’s Phase 1 output is modest relative to total global demand. But it demonstrates that Western tungsten projects can reach production — and it signals to capital markets that the investment case for non-Chinese tungsten is viable. That signal, if it holds, begins to shift the financing environment for projects currently in earlier development stages.

What It Means for the Carbide Supply Chain

For the cemented carbide industry, Sangdong matters on two timescales. In the near term, it does not materially change the supply-demand balance. Phase 1 production volumes, ramping from commissioning toward full commercial output, represent a fraction of the supply gap created by Chinese export restrictions. European and US carbide manufacturers will not find their raw material shortages resolved by Sangdong in 2026.

In the medium term, the Sangdong restart — combined with the Borralha project in Portugal, new projects in Spain, Uzbekistan, and the United States, and continued expansion of carbide recycling capacity — points toward a supply chain that is materially more diversified by 2028–2030. The question for industrial buyers is whether they can maintain supply security through the gap period between now and when that diversified supply reaches meaningful scale.

Implications for Drill Bit Buyers

The Sangdong restart is a positive structural signal. It does not solve today’s procurement problem. Buyers of cemented carbide drill components — coal picks, shield machine teeth, DTH inserts, ball teeth — still face a market where primary material is scarce, scrap prices are at historic highs, and spot procurement is unreliable. The supply diversification underway will take years to translate into relieved prices and improved spot availability.

The practical action remains the same: establish long-term supply agreements with manufacturers who have secured upstream access now. Ruixin Tungsten Carbide produces cemented carbide drill components from facilities in China with pre-crisis raw material relationships. Contact Ruixin Tungsten Carbide to discuss availability, or visit https://ruixintungstencarbide.com.

Sources

Ruixin Carbide — Supplier Note

Based in Jinan, Shandong, our 14,200 m² cemented carbide facility produces over 500 metric tons of finished carbide annually. For applications discussed in this article, we typically supply tungsten carbide wear parts, cutting tools, and engineered blanks—including YG8 grade material—to customers engaged in mining, tunneling, and industrial wear protection applications.

The related buying and engineering requirements are organized in the mining and tunneling carbide tools for almonty restarts south.

Recent shipments have gone to repeat customers in Australia, with standard delivery completed within 18–23 business days from order confirmation. Minimum order quantities begin at 200 kg for catalogue grades; smaller trial quantities are available for new customers evaluating material suitability.

To discuss grade specifications, dimensional tolerances, or volume pricing for your project, contact our technical sales team—we respond within one business day.