Top10 Tungsten Mine Projects Outside China VI: Sangdong Mine

The Sangdong Mine located in South Korea is one of the largest tungsten mines in the world. The tungsten mine is located 187 km southeast of Seoul, approximately three hours' drive via expressways and local sealed high ways. It is one of the top ten tungsten mine projects outside China. Almonty, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Woulfe Mining Corp, owns a 100% interest in the Almonty Korea Tungsten Project (AKT) located in South Korea.

Almonty Korea Tungsten was the leading global tungsten producer for more than 40 years and it has the potential to produce 50% of the world's Tungsten supply (outside China output). The Korean operating environment is highly competitive, with relatively low materials, and labor costs, low taxes and no royalties which means that the forecasted capital cost would be significantly lower than that of most comparable Western projects.

According to Almonty data, Sangdong Mine consists of 12 mining rights with a total area of 3173 hectares and belongs to a skarn deposit. Inferred mineral resources are 52.765 million tons, tungsten trioxide average grade is 0.44%, tungsten trioxide reserves are 230,000 tons; proven mineral resources are 8.334 million tons, tungsten trioxide average grade is 0.49%, and tungsten trioxide reserves are 4.08 The ore reserves are 7.896 million tons, the average grade of tungsten trioxide is 0.47%, and the reserves of tungsten trioxide are 37,100 tons.

In April 1916, the first outcrop of the Sangdong Mine was discovered. After the outbreak of the First World War and the rising value of tungsten resources, there was progress in the mine's exploration, development, and production, especially during the Korean War. In the following decades, Sangdong Tungsten Mine was one of the main sources of tungsten concentrate in the world, contributing more than 50% of South Korea's export revenue.

From 1934 to 1994, Sangdong Mine was mainly operated by Japanese mining company Solim Mining (later renamed Korea Tungsten Mining Co. Ltd.). Since then, with the oversupply of tungsten, the downturn in market prices, and the opening of China's tungsten resources, Sangdong Tungsten Mine was formally shut down in 1994.

In June 2001, Sewoo Mining obtained the mining right license of Mine; in January 2007, the mining right was transferred to Sangdong Mining Company; in September 2015, the wholly-owned parent company of Sangdong Mining was acquired by Almonty Industries Inc. Almonty completed the latest feasibility study of the Mine in January 2016 and completed the latest technical report on mineral resources and reserves in August.

Almonty plans to restart the Sangdong Mine, making it one of the largest tungsten mine projects outside China. In 2019, Almonty has signed a 10-year offtake agreement with its shareholder Global Tungsten and Powders to purchase a total of 21,000 tons of tungsten trioxide, accounting for almost 90% of the planned output.

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