SpaceX: Massive Infrastructure Investments and a Hunger for Raw Materials
The US aerospace company SpaceX exemplifies the rapidly rising demand for raw materials in the high-tech sector. The company, which generated approximately USD 18 billion in revenue in 2025, is investing substantial sums in aerospace infrastructure. Following the merger with the AI startup xAI, a large portion of the total capital expenditures, which amounted to a whopping USD 20.7 billion last year, is flowing directly into the development of AI infrastructure and GPU clusters. This demonstrates that AI and space exploration are converging and have long been two sides of the same coin for visionaries like Elon Musk.
To maintain its ambitious plans for data centers in orbit and the expansion of the Starlink network, SpaceX requires high-purity specialty alloys for engines and rockets. The company relies on strategic suppliers such as SeAH M&S, which is currently building a new metal processing plant in Temple, Texas, for USD 110 million. Without secure access to metals like tungsten and molybdenum, modern launch systems like those from SpaceX cannot be technologically realized.
Sandvik and the Limits of the Circular Economy
In the traditional industry, the long-established Swedish conglomerate Sandvik faces challenges similar to those of SpaceX. With annual revenue of approximately EUR 10.9 billion last year, the company is one of the world’s largest industrial consumers of tungsten carbide for heavy-duty drilling and cutting tools. In response to the critical supply situation, the subsidiary Sandvik Coromant is investing heavily in closed-loop systems. The goal: to achieve a 100% take-back rate for used carbide tools by 2028.
However, every highly efficient recycling system faces physical limits, as tungsten is simply ground down by wear during harsh mechanical machining processes in mining or tunnel construction. A significant portion of the metal is thus mechanically lost forever for recycling. No matter how efficient a recycling loop may be, it continuously loses material and remains dependent on new supplies from mines.
Almonty Industries: High-Grade Resources from the West
Almonty Industries provides the direct answer to the tungsten crisis. The mining company focuses on developing conflict-free tungsten sources and operates the Sangdong Mine in South Korea as its flagship project. Geological data compliant with NI 43-101 standards confirm the quality of this historic deposit. Official reserves amount to 7.90 million metric tons of ore with a grade of 0.45% tungsten trioxide, supplemented by indicated resources of 8.30 million metric tons with 0.49% tungsten trioxide and inferred resources of 52.80 million metric tons. Thanks to extremely high ore grades, management at Sangdong estimates production costs of just USD 110 per MTU. With current market prices sometimes well over USD 3,000, this cost structure secures the company an exceptionally high gross margin and a massive competitive advantage over rivals. CEO Lewis Black repeatedly emphasizes that Almonty operates more efficiently than the competition, having had to hold its own against heavily subsidized Chinese competitors during the 2010s. While China has increasingly lost the ability to work efficiently due to subsidies, Almonty’s experienced team extracts every last bit of value from the mines.
US Expansion and Strategic Offtake Agreements
To further solidify its foothold in the West, Almonty relocated its headquarters to Dillon, Montana, in April. There, the company is advancing the Gentung project, a multi-million-ton deposit with a grade of 0.315% tungsten trioxide. The company plans to begin production there in phases later this year. Almonty has long-term supply agreements. A 60-year molybdenum supply contract with SeAH M&S directly serves SpaceX’s supply chains. At the same time, a 15-year tungsten offtake agreement with Global Tungsten & Powders Corp. sets a price floor of USD 235 per unit and indirectly secures physical supply to the US military starting in 2027. Thanks to this contract structure, Almonty is benefiting enormously from the current price rally in tungsten. Since no other company is expanding as rapidly, Almonty is in a unique position.
Conclusion: De Facto Monopoly Drives Valuation
The US procurement ban on Chinese tungsten, set to take effect in 2027, is forcing the Western technology and defence industries to undergo a paradigm shift. In a recent study, investment bank Canaccord Genuity forecasts that global tungsten demand will rise by 47% to 210,000 metric tons by 2035. In an undersupplied market, Almonty is the only significant, scalable supplier outside of China’s sphere of influence. Analysts such as Cantor Fitzgerald and Bank of America, in light of this operational monopoly over newly mined Western tungsten, are reaffirming their “Buy” recommendations for the stock and setting price targets above USD 20.
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