Almonty Industries Raises $1.5 Million for building Sangdong Tungsten Mine

Almonty Industries (AII) has received a commitment from an institutional investor to raise $1.5 million to enable it to obtain a loan to finance the construction of the Sangdong Tungsten Mine in South Korea.

Investors are looking to increase their stake in Almonty, which will raise funds by issuing 1.5 million Chess Depository Interests (CDIs) at $1 each, matching Almonty's last traded price on the ASX in February 18.

The funds from the placement will be used to cover various financing costs to enable the drawdown of its US$75.1 million (A$104.2 million) loan facility with KfW and as general working capital.

The loan from KfW will finance the construction of the Sangdong Tungsten Mine located in Gangwon Province, South Korea. The Sangdong Mine is historically one of the largest tungsten mines in the world and one of the few long-lived, high-grade tungsten mines outside of China.

Almonty Industries acquired the mine in 2015 through the acquisition of Woulfe Mining Company. The placed CDIs are expected to settle on February 28 and will rank pari passu with existing CDIs and issue common shares.

The closing of the placement is subject to receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, including acceptance by the ASX. shares in Almonty were flat at $1 in Monday's trading.

Almonty specializes in the acquisition of distressed and underperforming businesses and assets in the tungsten market. These assets subsequently benefit from the company's in-house operating experience and unparalleled expertise in the tungsten market.

Almonty Industries is actively pursuing other growth opportunities through acquisitions where it can apply its tungsten expertise to create additional value for all stakeholders.

The Sangdong mine in South Korea is one of the largest tungsten mines in the world. The mine is located 187 kilometers southeast of Seoul and is about a three-hour drive via highway and local sealed roads. During the humid summer months of June to August, temperatures top out at about 30°C. Winters are relatively dry, with freezing temperatures occurring from October to March and between December and March.

The discovery of first outcrop of Sangdong Mine was in April 1916. Tungsten mineral had increased in value with the outbreak of World War I and had been developed and mined by Japanese mining company until Korean independence in 1945.

Sangdong Tungsten Mine was once the main operating station for tungsten concentrate production by Korea Tungsten Mining Co. Ltd (KTMC), whose large scale and high quality production (the main potential products were tungsten and molybdenum) was the driving force of Korea's economic development after the Korean War.

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