Toronto – May 14, 2021 – Almonty Industries Inc. (“Almonty” or the “Company”) (TSX: AII / OTCQX:ALMTF / FRA:ALI) today announced the filing of its audited annual consolidated financial statements, management’s discussion & analysis (“MD&A”) and Annual Information Form (“AIF”) for the year ended December 31, 2020. Unless otherwise indicated, all currency amounts contained in this news release are expressed in Canadian dollars.
During the fifteen months ended December 31, 2019, the Company, pursuant to Section 4.8(2) of National Instrument 51-102, provided notice that it changed its financial year end from September 30 to December 31 and, accordingly, the financial information presented below is as at and for the twelve months ended December 31, 2020 with comparatives as at and for the fifteen months ended December 31, 2019.
Lewis Black, Chief Executive Officer of Almonty commented:
“2020 was a difficult but ultimately extraordinarily successful year for the Company. Despite the disproportionate costs of placing Los Santos into care and maintenance during the pandemic and being under the backdrop of the endless lock downs due to the Covid-19 pandemic in Europe, we maintained production at our site in Portugal ensuring supply to our customers which has maintained our global operational track record of reliability. We executed the KFW-IPEX Bank loan in December 2020 for US$75.1m libor plus 2.3% term loan for the construction of the world’s largest tungsten mine, our Sangdong mine in Korea. We completed all ore and waste portals at site in Korea and sterilized the site to prepare for construction. We commenced the transition of both our operational team and corporate team to Korea and laid the groundwork for the preparation of an ASX listing and, ultimately, a Korean listing too.
We significantly strengthened our balance sheet, and the audit has confirmed this with the removal of the emphasis of matter in relation to going concern. All short-term liabilities have been pushed out another 3 years on the same terms meaning all shareholders continue to value benefit from the low interest rates and friendly terms applied to these
loans. We received a reclassification of land use in Spain for our Valtreixal project meaning permitting can now be completed and significantly adding forward value to this project now. The Company began trading on Xetra in Germany which has seen significant increases in trading volumes for the Company. Despite the global slowdown in 2020, the Company has pushed forward on all fronts.
Tungsten prices continue to strengthen having risen 25% in 2021. Traditionally Tungsten price lags by 6 months the copper price so the Company expects to see strong increases in Q3/Q4 2021, and we are seeing demand now start to recover. As I have said before, 2021 will be the pivotal moment in the Company’s history as we become primarily a development company as we accelerate the already ongoing construction of our Sangdong mine. As tungsten is increasingly recognised as one of the primary technology metals used in everything from EV’s, 5G to semiconductors, Almonty is well positioned to provide ultimately almost 30% of non-Chinese produced tungsten concentrate just from Sangdong alone which firmly establishes South Korea as a leading alternative for the Plansee group and all our customers looking to ensure further diversification of their existing supply chains.”
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About Almonty
The principal business of Toronto, Canada-based Almonty Industries Inc. is the mining, processing and shipping of tungsten concentrate from its Los Santos Mine in western Spain and its Panasqueira mine in Portugal as well as the development of its Sangdong tungsten mine in Gangwon Province, South Korea and the development of the Valtreixal tin/tungsten project in north western Spain.
The Los Santos Mine was acquired by Almonty in September 2011 and is located approximately 50 kilometres from Salamanca in western Spain and produces tungsten concentrate. The Panasqueira mine, which has been in production since 1896, is located approximately 260 kilometres northeast of Lisbon, Portugal, was acquired in January 2016 and produces tungsten concentrate.
The Sangdong mine, which was historically one of the largest tungsten mines in the world and one of the few long-life, high-grade tungsten deposits outside of China, was acquired in September 2015 through the acquisition of a 100% interest in Woulfe Mining Corp.
Almonty owns 100% of the Valtreixal tin-tungsten project in north-western Spain.
Further information about Almonty’s activities may be found at www.almonty.com and under Almonty’s profile at www.sedar.com.
Legal Notice
The release, publication or distribution of this announcement in certain jurisdictions may be restricted by law and therefore persons in such jurisdictions into which this announcement is released, published or distributed should inform themselves about and observe such restrictions.
Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release constitute “forward-looking” statements that involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, objectives or achievements of the Company, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance, objectives or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking
statements. Such statements relate to, among other things, the Company’s intention to purchase Shares pursuant to the NCIB, the Company’s belief that the Shares may from time to time be undervalued and that purchases of Shares under the NCIB will provide benefits to shareholders. These statements reflect the Company’s current views regarding future events and operating performance, are based on
information currently available to the Company, and speak only as of the date of this press release.
Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on these forward-looking statements, which are not guarantees and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions, which may cause actual performance and financial results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements. The
forward-looking statements included in this press release are made only at the date of this press release and, except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company does not undertake to publicly update such forward-looking statements to reflect new information, future events or otherwise.
For further information, please contact:
Lewis Black
Chairman, President and CEO
Telephone: +1 647-438-9766
E-mail: info@almonty.com
