Stibnite – described on the Periodic Table simply as “Sb” – a lustrous grey metal or metalloid.It was used in ancient times as a powder in medicine and cosmetics and is also known by its Arabic name, kohl.This week’s Bulls N’ Bears ASX Runner of the Week is … antimony. SUPPLIEDWhat the heck are you talking about, I can almost hear you saying! Well, we can tell you it is better known as antimony, the still little-known mineral that has caused an incredible stir among ASX investors during the past week … and here is the why.China has imposed a ban on its exporting of the critical mineral that will kick in from September 15, with the nation’s strategic reserves deemed to be worryingly low. The news hit like a bolt out of the blue and sent market punters crazy looking for stocks with known antimony deposits.The metal is primarily used to form alloys for use in steel, military equipment such as bullets, machine bearings and as a fire-retardant additive. It also has found wide use to improve solar panel efficiency – a growing need with the global transition to clean energy.Several ASX-listed companies featuring antimony in their projects saw their stocks take off on a run last Friday as news of China’s ban filtered through. However, the same shares continued rocketing along this week, continuing their ascent amid astonishing volumes for, in the most part, junior companies exploring or developing projects with the suddenly “in-demand” mineral.Companies such as Larvotto Resources and Nagambie Resources have sizeable deposits of the mineral, while others including Sun Silver are planning to re-assay part of their resources to see if they, too, can stump up economic clumps of the good, old antimony.While all three companies saw their stock rise this week, it was Larvotto, which holds the Hillgrove gold-antimony project near Armidale in NSW – Australia’s biggest deposit of the metal – which proved to be the cream of the crop. Closing last week at 18c, its shares bolted out of the blocks on Monday, opening at 21c before touching an intraday high of 27.5c.The near week-long “antimony party” then continued with the company’s shares eventually reaching 38c on Thursday, for a healthy 111.11 per cent advance for the week. Volumes went ballistic for the bullet-hardening mineral developer, with 40.4 million shares traded on Monday and some 118 million for the week.And all it really took was for Larvotto to reveal on Wednesday that it had secured the final drilling permits needed for its second exploration program at Hillgrove and that the rig would mobilise to the site next Monday to start plunging in some 5250m of reverse circulation (RC) at its Clarks Gully target.The backstory to Hillgrove – and it’s an interesting one – is that Larvotto, like most mining juniors, was on the lookout for a project to increase its critical metals inventory and came across the on-sale project after administrators were appointed to wind up the affairs of Red River Resources, which was placed in liquidation in August last year.In October, Larvotto reached agreement to virtually steal the project for about $8 million (consisting of a $3 million purchase and about $5 million to replace the environmental bonds required by the NSW Government). In one stunning negotiation, the company increased the level of its resources by 1.4 million ounces of gold equivalent at about $6 per ounce.Management says the resource, in fact, comprises 1.036 million ounces of gold and 90,000 tonnes of antimony.But what really hits you between the eyes like a Mike Tyson straight right is that the credits from the antimony using today’s price of about US$23,000 (AU$34,300), results in a negative cost (-$82) to produce an ounce of gold, paving the way for a potentially lucrative project.
LRV Price at posting:
40.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
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