Almonty Industries has completed Phase 1 commissioning at its Sangdong tungsten mine in Gangwon Province, South Korea – marking the return to production after more than 30 years.
Phase 1 is now producing, with the processing plant designed to handle approximately 640,000 tonnes of ore annually, yielding roughly 2,300 tonnes of tungsten concentrate per year. A planned Phase 2 expansion, expected to come online in 2027, is designed to increase processing capacity to approximately 1.2 million tonnes of ore annually, doubling tungsten output to roughly 4,600 tonnes per year. At full capacity, Sangdong is expected to supply about 40% of global tungsten demand outside China.
“The completion of Phase 1 at the Sangdong tungsten mine marks the culmination of more than a decade of investment and development. This is 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 now complete, our focus turns to optimizing throughput and advancing toward full commercial production,” said Lewis Black, chairman, president & CEO of Almonty.
“Looking ahead, the Phase 2 expansion and the development of our tungsten oxide facility and the adjacent Sangdong molybdenum deposit will form the foundation of what we refer to as the ‘Korean Trinity’ – a fully integrated strategic-mineral value chain that positions South Korea as a global hub for the production, refining, and upgrading of tungsten. This will directly support U.S. defense procurement requirements mandating non-China tungsten sourcing after 2027 and significantly enhance resource security for the U.S. and its allies.”
Sangdong was historically one of the world’s largest tungsten producers before operations were suspended in the early 1990s following a prolonged downturn in commodity prices. Since acquiring the project in 2015, Almonty has invested more than $100 million to redevelop the site as a modern underground mining operation with a newly constructed processing plant.
Source: Almonty Industries