Almonty kicks off drill campaign at Sangdong molybdenum project

Almonty Industries (NASDAQ: ALM) (TSX, ASX: AII) announced Tuesday it has started a large-scale drilling program at its Sangdong molybdenum project in Gangwon province, South Korea.

The Toronto-based company is advancing molybdenum exploration while the development of its Sangdong tungsten mine, the largest ramps up. The Sangdong mine is currently world’s largest tungsten producer outside of China.

Almonty said it is accelerating its molybdenum drilling campaign in response to South Korea’s supply shortage for molybdenum, a strategic metal widely used in the aerospace, defense, nuclear energy and petrochemicals industries.

Demand has been expanding into next-generation industries including semiconductors and renewable energy facilities. The global molybdenum market is projected to reach $6.29 billion by 2034 from its current value of $4.6 billion, according to Zion Market Research.

The spot price of molybdenum has increased by approximately 15.1% year-to-date to $25.97 per lb. as of Sept. 19, 2025, according to Metal Bulletin/Fastmarket.

Almonty’s drilling program is intended to re-examine mineralized structures previously identified in historical drill holes. To this end, a total of 26 drill holes, covering approximately 11,700 meters of underground space, are expected to be drilled using diamond drills to obtain more precise data.

Almonty previously filed an NI 43-101 technical report for the Sangdong molybdenum project in 2022, showing an indicated resource totalling 8 million tonnes grading 0.06% molybdenum disulfide and an inferred resource of 50.7 million tonnes grading 0.05% molybdenum disulfide.

The company said it has signed an exclusive supply agreement with a subsidiary of South Korea’s SeAH Group to supply 100% of the molybdenum produced at the Sangdong project for the life of mine.

“At a time when ally South Korea is facing a shortage of molybdenum supply, we believe that the Sangdong molybdenum project will make a significant contribution to national resource security and the establishment of a stable supply chain,” Almonty CEO Lewis Black said in a news release.

“Once molybdenum production at Sangdong mine is fully operational, Almonty believes that it will help resolve South Korea’s supply shortage and reduce the nation’s dependence on imports,” he added.