Almonty and Rwanda form tungsten venture with state taking 25 percent stake

Almonty Industries, based in Montana, announced a binding joint venture with Rwanda’s government on 14 September 2026. Rwanda takes a 25 percent stake in Almonty Rwanda for the 32-square-kilometer Shyorongi concession in Rulindo district, Northern Province, plus a processing license. Almonty keeps 75 percent. Lewis Black, Almonty’s chairman and CEO, said small-scale license holders already produce ore, pre-concentrate and panning tailings, and the deal lets Almonty collect, upgrade and export that material while building a plant. A mobile processing unit will go near existing tailings dams. A separate investment and development agreement is still needed for further work. Black called the venture part of a strategy for shorter-term fixes to the Western tungsten supply deficit, requested by the Western industrial base, and the first of several avenues. It falls under the U.S.-Rwanda Framework for Shared Economic Prosperity from late 2025; the State Department helped broker it. Bloomberg reported no direct U.S. funding. Rwanda is the only African nation among the top 10 tungsten producers. Almonty also runs mines and projects in South Korea, Portugal, Spain and the United States.