“What kills tungsten demand is absence,” Lewis Black, Chairman, President and CEO of Almonty Industries Inc. (NASDAQ: ALM | Frankfurt: ALI1), told InvestorNews host Tracy Hughes during a recent InvestorTalk interview, reiterating a warning from his August 30 market commentary. In his view, higher prices alone do not stop most manufacturers because tungsten represents a relatively small portion of the cost of a finished product. The greater danger is physical unavailability: when the material cannot be obtained, production stops and, as Black warned, “a shuttered plant rarely reopens.”That warning came as Almonty reported a sharp increase in revenue and operating profitability. Second-quarter 2026 revenue rose 498% year over year to C$43.0 million, driven by record tungsten pricing, while income from mining operations reached C$26.1 million and Adjusted EBITDA increased to C$17.6 million from negative C$4.8 million a year earlier. The company reported a gross margin of 60.7%, although its C$181.8 million in net income included C$173.1 million of non-cash gains arising from the revaluation of derivative and warrant instruments.Black called the quarter “a first look at the prospective earnings power that Almonty has spent more than a decade building toward.”Black attributed the operating performance to the return of price discovery after decades in which, he argued, tungsten’s value was held down by Chinese dominance of the market. Almonty survived the lower-price period by concentrating on operating efficiencies at its Panasqueira Mine in Portugal, which has been producing since 1896. “Price should not be used as a mask for inefficiency,” Black said. “Everyone can be heroic in a high price.”The balance sheet changed just as dramatically, but for a different reason. Almonty’s cash balance was C$1.227 billion at June 30, up from C$268.4 million at the end of 2025, principally following the June closing of a US$800 million offering of 2.25% convertible senior notes due 2031. The notes have an initial conversion price of approximately US$27.40 per share, while related capped-call transactions were structured with an initial cap price of US$41.36 to reduce potential dilution or offset certain cash payments upon conversion, subject to the terms of those arrangements.Black presented the company’s subsequent share-repurchase authorization as another element of that dilution strategy. Almonty may purchase as many as 14.4 million common shares, approximately 5% of the shares outstanding as of August 14, for an aggregate price of up to US$300 million during the 36 months ending August 24, 2029. The authorization does not require the company to buy any particular number of shares, and the timing remains at Almonty’s discretion. Black said the program could ultimately be funded partly from Sangdong earnings and emphasized that compensation at Almonty is not tied to short-term share-price performance.Almonty has also concentrated its public-market presence. Its TSX delisting took effect after trading closed on July 31, while it was removed from the Australian Securities Exchange after trading closed on September 1. The shares continue to trade on Nasdaq and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Black said trading activity had migrated overwhelmingly to Nasdaq, making the additional compliance and administrative expense of the smaller listings increasingly difficult to justify.The operational centre of the discussion was the Sangdong Tungsten Mine in South Korea. In July, Almonty extended its Phase I offtake agreement with Global Tungsten & Powders LLC, a member of Austria’s Plansee Group, from 15 to 21 years. The amendment increased contracted volume by 40% to 4.41 million metric tonne units and improved pricing across all contracted volumes by approximately 6.3%. The agreement covers approximately 90% of anticipated Phase I production.To read the full column, go to: https://bit.ly/3Vm3cv6