Rest of Article.Where is antimony produced? Around 80% of...

Rest of Article.

Where is antimony produced? Around 80% of antimony comes from China and Russia.

In terms of the top seven producing countries including the likes of China, Russia, Tajikistan, Burma, Bolivia, Turkey, and Australia, Australia produces a relatively small amount.

As mentioned in the US Geological Survey in 2021, Australia produced around 2,000t of antimony compared to China’s 80,000t and Russia’s 30,000t.

In fact, the Costerfield Mine in Victoria – owned by Canadian-based Mandalay Resources – is not only the seventh highest-grade gold mine and fifth largest producer of antimony in the world, but it is also Australia’s only antimony producer.

Production at Costerfield was 11,079 ounces of gold and 523 tonnes of antimony in the second quarter of 2022 versus 9,959 ounces gold and 858 tonnes antimony in the second quarter of 2021.

Antimony supply chain risks

In 2013, China imposed restrictions for several years on the export of antimony-based products, which reduced availability and increased prices.

To maintain market control, China has continued buying antimony deposits from other countries to either obtain their supplies or shut down operations.

“Because of how important it is from a defence and high-tech point of view it is a bit ironic that we are relying on other countries for our military capability,” Hudson says.

While the US has no mined antimony sources, the Stibnite Mining District in Stibnite, Idaho is one of the largest known economic deposits of antimony outside of China and is currently under environmental review for mining redevelopment by Perpetua Resources.

“The Western world has no antimony supply security, even though we use it widely and broadly and can’t do without it,” Hudson says.

“The world is only starting to wake up to antimony and with Australia being the world’s fourth largest in terms of reserves, we will play a key role going forward.”