Tungsten West (AIM:TUN) shares soared 17.7% in London on Tuesday, closing at 50.377p, after it confirmed terms with the National Wealth Fund for a proposed investment of up to £71m to complete the funding package needed to restart the Hemerdon tungsten and tin mine in Devon.
The government-backed investment values the AIM-quoted company at just over £530m, and helps unlock what promises to be a key part of the mining revival underway in England's South West (with Strategic Minerals' Cornish project being the other project on the way).
It is a long-standing development project, so at this point it has stretched across several British government tenures; nevertheless, today's news comes as Andy Burnham's Labour government threatens to back British business and industry (so, let's keep a watching brief on that score).
The investment package splits into £36 million of equity, via 100 million new shares priced at 36p each, a 7.5% discount to the 20-day volume-weighted average price, plus a debt facility of up to £25m and a non-committed £10m accordion.
Proceeds are earmarked to fund the restart and to repay the short-term loan facility the company put in place in May.
Why it matters
Tungsten West has been racing to bring Hemerdon back into production against a backdrop of short-term, related-party bridge financing carrying step-up interest terms. A wholly owned UK Government entity agreeing to take equity, extend debt and negotiate board rights removes the immediate refinancing risk and replaces a costly stopgap with a facility built to carry the project through to full commissioning.
The National Wealth Fund's involvement gives Hemerdon a form of sovereign backing rare for an AIM-listed developer, and the UK Government has secured a window to negotiate an offtake agreement for up to half of the mine's tungsten output, tying a strategic-minerals supply chain directly to a single Devon site.
The restart is also billed as a jobs story.
The company says returning Hemerdon to production is expected to create 350 direct jobs in the South West of England.
About the company
Tungsten West is a development-stage, pre-revenue mineral exploration and development company focused on tungsten and tin projects in the UK and Europe.
Its principal asset is the Hemerdon project in Devon, which the company's leadership describes as "a world-class, low-cost and long-life tungsten and tin resource in the UK," in the words of chief executive Jeff Court.
The company has no production revenue yet and remains dependent on completing its financing package and on tungsten and tin market pricing to realise value from the asset. Its operational focus at present is entirely on returning Hemerdon to production through a phased commissioning programme.
How it got here
Tungsten West's push to restart Hemerdon has in recent months focused on financing steps, and the countdown to giving the project the green light.
In April, the company hired Ron Day as chief operating officer while targeting first-phase Hemerdon restart in Q3, setting the operational leadership in place for the recommissioning push.
By May, the company had secured a US$25m related-party bridge facility to fund the Hemerdon restart, a binding but short-dated instrument carrying SOFR plus 4.5% with quarterly step-ups, intended to cover works only as far as first-phase fines gravity processing.
Zeus Capital initiated coverage days later with a Buy rating, and repeated that Buy rating once more before the month was out, flagging closure of a larger long-term facility as the next material catalyst.
July brought confirmation that commissioning at Hemerdon would begin later that month, with the company reporting progress on schedule and within budget and a workforce build-up already under way.
The National Wealth Fund's terms announced in late August now brings the project closer than ever.
Market view
Zeus Capital calls the package "transformational and de-risking": It refinances the bridge, funds the mine through to full production, and provides sovereign validation plus a potential offtake for up to half of output, according to the broker.
At Zeus, which rates the shares Buy, the price target is pitched at 78p.
Management framed the moment as validation of the underlying asset rather than simply a financing fix.
Chief executive Jeff Court said the company is "thankful for the support of our shareholder, which will allow us to maintain our rapid development pace and deliver tungsten and tin concentrate into the market from Q3 2026," a line that echoes commentary he offered when the original bridge facility was struck in May.
Tuesday's near 18% share price rally tells its own story of sentiment; indeed, Tungsten West shares are up 39% for the past week - and 345% higher for 2026 to date, and 460% higher for the past twelve months.
Put simply, the share price has been on a tear as Hemerdon has moved closer to fruition.
Investors will next watch closely to see whether the UK miner can retain momentum and goodwill as focus sharpens on timely execution, as commissioning and production deadlines and milestones arrive.
What's ahead
Tungsten West has reiterated a staged commissioning timetable for Hemerdon: fines gravity processing commissioning targeted for Q3 2026, coarse gravity commissioning for Q4 2026, and full project commissioning for Q1 2027, with a ramp toward nameplate throughput of 500 tonnes per hour during 2027.
Final completion testing is underway ahead of a targeted production start within Q3 2026.
The UK Government's window to negotiate an offtake agreement for up to half of Hemerdon's tungsten output, set out in the 2025 Feasibility Study, remains an open item to be worked through alongside the operational restart.
The wrap
A financing package built around a wholly owned UK Government entity, carrying equity, debt, board rights and a route to a strategic offtake, marks a materially different footing for Hemerdon's restart than the short-term bridge that preceded it.
Whether that translates into the tungsten and tin concentrate operation Tungsten West has promised from Q3 2026 will now be measured against a commissioning timetable the company and its broker have both reiterated repeatedly through the year.
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