European tungsten producer Almonty advances Korean Sangdong project

Almonty Industries (TSX: AII; US-OTC: ALMTF) has two mines in Europe producing tungsten concentrate – the Los Santos mine in western Spain and the Panasqueira mine in Portugal – but it’s the Sangdong tungsten project in South Korea that has become the junior’s main focus in recent years. Sangdong – once one of the world’s largest tungsten mines in production and still one of the few high grade tungsten deposits outside of China — came into its portfolio in September 2015 when Almonty acquired its former owners, a Canadian company called Woulfe Mining, after a persistent courtship. In December, after four years of forensic due diligence, the junior finally closed a US$75 million project financing for Sangdong from Germany state-owned KfW-IPEX Bank GmbH (the Credit Institute for Reconstruction), which will cover about 70% of the US$105 million construction costs. The financing is at Libor plus 2.3%. The bank headquartered in Frankfurt specializes in export and project financing and is better known for financing large infrastructure projects spanning shipping and ports, airports, manufacturing plants, telecommunications and energy. Continue reading at www.northernminer.com.