Almonty raises $90M in NASDAQ listing

[Redator]

Tungsten miner Almonty Industries (TSX: AII) (NASDAQ: ALM) raised $90 million in its NASDAQ debut on Monday, issuing 20 million common shares at $4.50 each in the public offering. By midday, the stock traded at $4.85 apiece.

Almonty’s Toronto-listed shares fell 14.3% to C$6.70, for a market capitalization of C$1.3 billion ($950 million).

The company, which also trades in Frankfurt, Australia and previously on the US OTC market, initially planned to raise $75 million through the NASDAQ uplisting to fund a tungsten oxide facility in South Korea.

The public offering follows approval from Almonty shareholders earlier this year of relocating the company’s jurisdiction of incorporation from Canada to Delaware to reflect the growing importance of the US market in its strategic positioning.

Tungsten, while having a small market, is the material of choice for key defense applications such as high-density, armour-piercing projectiles. The mineral is required in US Department of Defence (DoD) contracts. Almonty currently has a 15-year deal with an unnamed defense company.

Despite its strategic importance, the US has stopped producing its tungsten since 2015, and is now entirely reliant on imports. China, its main rival, dominates global tungsten production, accounting for over 80% of last year’s total output of 81,000 tons, according to the US Geological Survey.

Tungsten’s emerging supply chain

Due to growing tensions between the two nations, the DoD last year banned its contractors from buying China-mined tungsten starting 2027, meaning the US will need to shift to other nations to source the material.

Almonty is looking to fill that void by developing a vertically integrated tungsten operation centered around the historic Sangdong mine in South Korea, which is expected to begin production this year. It also plans to build a processing facility nearby, which could take the production of tungsten oxide (WO₃) from the entire operation to 4,750 tonnes annually.

In its presentation, Almonty said its South Korean operation has the potential to produce over half of the world’s tungsten, as it hosts the largest tungsten deposit globally by inferred resources, with one of the highest grades.

In addition to the Sangdong mine, the company also owns and operates a mine in Portugal.