While the critical minerals narrative revolves largely around battery and energy commodities like lithium, copper and uranium, antimony, a by-product metal, is on the radar of a growing number of countries.
Antimony is traditionally used as a fire retardant, an application that accounts for 60 percent of annual demand, as well as in alloys to enhance end products such as munitions and lead-acid batteries. Antimony is also critical to many clean energy technologies like solar panels, wind turbines, energy storage and liquid metal batteries.
Antimony is typically extracted from the sulfide mineral stibnite, with lower grades concentrated by froth flotation and higher grades smelted.
For those looking to invest in antimony as the critical mineral sees increased demand, we break down where antimony is currently produced and which assets could bring production online, what antimony is used for and the antimony mining stocks you can invest in below.
Antimony is a by-product asset mined in conjunction with gold, silver and copper. When alloyed to other metals such as lead, it provides strength, hardness and corrosion resistance.
Despite it being lesser known than many metals, antimony is included on critical minerals lists around the globe due to its importance for a variety of applications, including emerging cleantech and battery applications, as well as its use in military applications.
The largest demand driver for antimony is its use in fire retardants, particularly when compounded as antimony trioxide. This compound is extensively utilized as a fire retardant applied to products such as electronics, bedding, clothing, toys and automotive seat covers. Increasingly stringent building codes in response to climate change is also boosting demand for antimony in the flame retardant segment.
Antimony is used in alloys with other metals, as it hardens and strengthens them. Some of the end use segments in which it is used in alloy formulations include lead-acid batteries, bearings and soldering materials. Government mandates and subsidies prompting growth in the electric vehicle (EV) and renewable energy storage systems markets are a boon to lead-acid batteries.
Aside from that, antimony is used in liquid metal batteries, which are gaining prominence in the energy storage sector. Also called molten salt batteries, they use molten salt as an electrolyte and have liquid metal electrodes. Liquid metal batteries operate at high temperatures and offer high energy density and a long cycle life, making them promising for grid-scale energy storage. When used as an alloy material, antimony enhances molten salt batteries by improving their durability, stability and performance.
Another area of demand growth is in the clean energy transition, specifically in solar panels, according to S&P Global. The use of antimony in solar panels serves two critical functions: improving light absorption and charge transport for higher energy conversion rates; and increasing thermal stability to extend the life of the panels.
Antimony reserves stand at an estimated 2 million MT globally, with China having the largest at 640,000 MT.
In 2022 and 2023, China accounted for almost half of global antimony supply, producing 40,000 metric tons of the material in both calendar years. This was a drop from 2020 and 2021, when the country produced 60,000 MT.
Tajikistan was the second largest antimony producer in 2023, with output of 21,000 metric tons. Turkey, Burma and Russia were also major producers of antimony, accounting for a combined 14,900 MT in 2023.
“The world’s leading antimony-producing mine was a gold-antimony mine with 23,000-ton per-year capacity in Russia. The mine had significantly reduced antimony production in 2021 through 2023 because gold production was maximized,” the USGS notes.
In the last month of 2024, the Biden Administration laid down further restrictions aimed at halting exports to China’s chip makers, with another 140 companies added to the no-go list for China-bound shipments of high bandwidth memory chips, chipmaking and software tools.
Without a physical metals market, antimony investors must place their bets on antimony mining stocks. The growing demand/supply imbalance in the antimony market represents an appealing opportunity for ex-China antimony mining companies and their investors.
This list of stocks provides investors with a brief overview of the Australian, Canadian and US antimony mining and exploration stocks offering exposure to the antimony market.
This is an updated version of an article first published by the Investing News Network in 2013.
Securities Disclosure: I, Melissa Pistilli, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Editorial Disclosure: Antilles Gold is a client of the Investing News Network. This article is not paid-for content.
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