Almonty Secures Tungsten Lifeline For Spanish Mine

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for IIR News Intelligence (Sugar Land, Texas)

Summary

A tungsten deal between Almonty and an Austrian subsidiary of the Sandvik Group represents a key step in Europe's push for more locally sourced critical minerals.

Mining firm Almonty has inked a long-term tungsten concentrate supply agreement with Austria's Wolfram Bergbau und Hütten (WBH), a subsidiary of the Sandvik Group, for tungsten tailings from its shuttered Los Santos mine in western Spain. 

Classed as a critical mineral, Europe alongside the U.S. has mandated more domestic production. Tungsten is essential for defence, aerospace and energy applications. The deal will help the European Union (EU) reduce its reliance on China, which controls roughly 80% of global production but has restricted exports since the start of 2025. This has resulted in global shortages and prices spiking 310% between January and July 2026, to hit roughly US$3,000 per metric ton unit (MTU). According to Industrial Info Resources data, there are 45 tungsten mining-related projects in Europe worth US$2.3 billion in investment. Fourteen of those projects are located in Spain, which holds Europe's largest tungsten reserves - excluding Russia - at roughly 66,000 metric tons (MT), according to 2024 USGS figures. It is also Europe's leading tungsten producer, supplying roughly 700-800 MT annually in recent years. 

Benefits for Almonty and WBH

For Almonty, the deal establishes a committed route to market for a restarted EU asset before production resumes, together with customer capital to support reinstatement of the processing plant. For WBH, the agreement adds a documented non-Chinese, EU-origin feed source to a smelter that supplies the Western hard-metal and powder-metallurgy industries. Los Santos Mine is an open-pit scheelite skarn operation located approximately 50 kilometres south of Salamanca that has been in planned care and maintenance since February 2020. Both companies have built operations around recovering tungsten from material that has already been mined once. At Los Santos, Almonty's restart plan is centred on retreating the tailings inventory left behind by earlier processing rather than on new primary extraction. It stated that its latest tests and trials have resulted in improved tungsten trioxide (WO₃) recovery from tailings retreatment. 

New Life for An EU Asset

"WBH is the only integrated tungsten smelter outside Asia and Russia, and recycling is central to how they operate, which makes them a natural fit for what Almonty is doing at Los Santos, where the restart is built around recovering tungsten from material that has already been mined and processed once," said Lewis Black, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Almonty. "What this agreement gives us is a take-or-pay commitment from a Sandvik Group company, index-linked pricing with a floor beneath it and a sharing of the financial requirements to reactivate the property. That combination is what allows us to bring a European Union asset back into production with a defined route to market from the first shipment. This is the first time tailings have been commercially passed in the West to our knowledge and is a culmination of technology that we have developed since we closed Los Santos in 2020 as it depleted its resources."

U.K. Tungsten Push

In recent weeks, Industrial Info Resources has reported on the U.K. government's decision to back the restart of the Hemerdon tungsten mine in Devon as it seeks to tap into one of the largest deposits of the critical mineral. It has agreed to total funding of £71 million (US$96 million), in equity investment and loans to help Tungsten West in Devon restart production. In return the Government will secure the rights to procure 50% of its annual tungsten production. For additional information, see September 8, 2026, article - U.K. Mining its Own Tungsten Critical Mineral. According to the state's National Wealth Fund (NWF) Hemerdon "is one of the world's largest tungsten resources, making it a strategic U.K. asset capable of providing a secure domestic supply of the mineral."

Key Takeaways

• A tungsten deal between Almonty and an Austrian subsidiary of the Sandvik Group will help restart operations at the shuttered Los San Juan Mine in Spain. 
• It forms a key part in Europe's battle to reduce its reliance on China for tungsten and other critical minerals. 
• Industrial Info Resources is tracking 45 tungsten mining-related projects in Europe worth US$2.3 billion in investment.

About Industrial Info Resources
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, Industrial Info Resources is tracking over 250,000 current and future projects worth $30.2 Trillion (USD).