13 Antimony
ntimony is a strategic metal. Stibnite, composed of antimony trisulphide, Sb2S3, (Sb 71.4%) is the predominant ore of antimony. Antimony in its elemental form is a silvery white, brittle, fusible, crystalline solid that exhibits poor electrical and heat conductivity properties and vaporises at low temperatures. Antimony and some of its alloys are unusual in nature that they expand on cooling. Commercial forms of antimony are generally traded in the form of ingots, broken pieces, granules or cast cake. Other forms are powder, shots, and single crystals. The occurrence of antimony in the earth crust ranges from 0.2 to 0.5 parts per million. Antimony is geochemically categorised as a chalcophile, occurring with sulphur and associated
with heavy metals, lead, copper and silver. The metal is obtained commonly as a by-product in lead-zincsilver smelting. Presently, there is no production of antimony in India. The entire requirement of antimony in the country is met through imports of its ore and concentrates.
RESOURCES
As per the UNFC system, as on 1.4.2005, total resources of 10,588 tonnes ore with metal content of 174 tonnes are estimated all in inferred category in Lahul & Spiti district, Himachal Pradesh (Table-1).
Table - 1 : Reserves/Resources of Antimony as on 1.4.2005 (By States/Grades)
(In tonnes) India/State India Ore Metal Himachal Pradesh Ore Metal 10588 174 10588 174 10588 174 10588 174 10588 174 10588 174 Reserves Total (A) Remaining resources Inferred (STD 333) Total (B) Total resources (A+B)
The stibnite and its decomposition products, cervantite and kermesite occur as veins, stringers and specks. Occurrences of antimony ores are also reported from the states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh.
USES
Antimony and its alloys find numerous applications in a wide range of high technology industries like electronic, space and defence, photographic materials, electroplating, besides cosmetic, paint, plastics and textile industries. Traditionally, it is used in type metal and other alloys. It is now used extensively world-wide to harden and increase the mechanical strength of lead, particularly in battery industry. Antimony
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trioxide is the most important of the antimony compounds and is primarily used in flameretardant applications include such markets as children's clothing, toys, aircraft and automobile seat covers. Antimony sulphide is one of the ingredients of safety matches. It is also used as a decolourising and refining agent in glass industry.
SUBSTITUTES
Combination of tin, calcium, copper, selenium, cadmium, strontium and sulphur are among the substitutes used as hardeners for lead used in batteries. Low maintenance batteries have shifted to use of calcium as additive to substitute for antimony. Antimony can be replaced by organic
ANTIMONY
compounds or hydrated aluminium oxide in flameretardants and by tellurium and selenium in rubber manufacturing. Compounds of titanium, zinc, chromium, tin and zirconium may be substituted for antimony chemicals in paints, pigments and enamels.
Table - 3 : World Production of Antimony (By Principal Countries)
(In tonnes of metal content) Country World : Total 2005 175000 5204 151457 1007 1500 807 3000 5979 4073 1973
(e)
2006 181000 5460 156200 1000 1500 691
2007 174000 3881 152900
(e)
TECHNICAL POSSIBILITIES
Antimony products can be used as stabilizers in specialised plastics. Development of electric vehicles could lead to the use of high antimony batteries because of their deep cycling characteristics. Antimony semiconductors have possible use in aircraft night vision systems and in space-based astronomy. The antimonial lead scrap extracted from the spent lead acid storage batteries is recycled largely from and for storage battery industry.
Bolivia China Guatemala Kyrgyzstan(e) Peru Russia(e) South Africa Tajikistan Other countries
1000 1500 590
3000
(e)
(e)
4500 3480 5169
3500
(e)
3500 4129
WORLD REVIEW
The world resources of antimony are 4.3 million tonnes in terms of metal content. Antimony resources are located mainly in China, which contributes about 56% to the total reserve base followed by Thailand(10%), Russia(9%), Bolivia(7%), South Africa (5%) and Tajikistan (3%) (Table-2). The world production of antimony metal decreased to 174,000 tonnes in 2007 as against 181,000 tonnes in the previous year. China was the main producer of antimony accounting for about 88% of world production. South Africa, Bolivia, Tajikistan, Russia, Guatemala, and Kyrgyzstan were the other important producers (Table-3).
Source: World Mineral Production, 2003-2007.
Australia
In Australia, antimony mining restarted in mid 2006 at AGD Mining Ltd's Augusta antimony gold deposit in Central Victoria. Production at the mine now owned by AIM-listed Cambrian Mining Plc. has fallen behind schedule owing to poor ground condition and lack of experienced personnel and equipment. AGD's initial target was to treat 60,000 t/p of antimony ore. Ore is being treated at AGD's Casterfield concentrator. The plant became operational in late March 2007 but was only treating 2000-3000 t/mth of ore, which is less than half of the company's initial target. Straits Resources Ltd is reviving the Hillgrove antimony gold mine in New South Wales. Operations, scheduled to restart during August or September 2007, are expected to yield around 10,000 t/y of antimony metal.
Table - 2 : World Resources of Antimony (By Principal Countries)
(In tonnes of metal content) Country World : Total (rounded) Bolivia China Guatemala Russia (Recoverable) South Africa Tajikistan Thailand USA Other countries Source: Mineral Commodity Summaries, 2008. Reserve base 4300000 320000 2400000 NA 370000 200000 150000 450000 90000 330000
Canada
Moves have continued to re-open the Beaver Brook mine in Newfoundland, reputedly based on one of the largest undeveloped antimony deposits in the world. As world antimony prices are now much improved there is political pressure to re-start the mine. The mine would be back in operation by the end of the year producing some 5000 to 10,000 tpy of antimony.
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ANTIMONY
China
China dominates the world antimony production. Hsikwangshen Twinkling Star Antimony Co. is China's largest antimony metal and trioxide producer. The company has two smelters, both with a capacity of 1000 t/mth. There are known to be more than 100 small antimony producers in Human accounting for 10,000 to 20,000 t/y. The surge in non-ferrous metal prices in recent years has aggregated the problem of illegal mining in China and after a fatal accident at a mine in Lengshuijiang in December 2006, the Human provincial Govenrment ordered a temporary halt to all mining operations and announced plans to bring projects in the province involving mining, concentrating and converting of metals into line with Central Govenrment guidelines on environmental protection and mining safety by October 2007. One river of the Human Province was found to contain a high concentration of antimony. All mines and smelters were shut down for checks and many of the small and illegal mines and plants were closed permanently.
restrating operation in July 2006, albeit at a slightly reduced capacity of 18,000 t/y of ore. This would make it once again the most significant producer outside China.
Peru
The Peruvian Mining Company, Minera Halcon de Gorgar is planning to start production of antimony concentrates in Cajatambo Province to produce 2,000 tpy of antimony metal for export.
FOREIGN TRADE
Exports
Exports of antimony alloys and scrap dropped sharply to 24 tonnes in 2007-08 from 2,159 tonnes in the previous year. Exports were mainly to Jordan, Pakistan, Switzerland and Nepal (Table - 4).
Imports
Imports of antimony ores and concentrates increased to 693 tonnes in 2006-07 from 478 tonnes in the previous year. Imports were mainly from China, Mexico and Peru. Imports of antimony alloys and scrap increased in 2007-08 to 2,144 tonnes from 2,107 tonnes in the previous year. Imports were mainly from China (94%) (Tables - 5 and 6).
South Africa
Outside China the only antimony mine of any significance that has continued its operation, is consolidated Murchison mine, in South africa. The mine has an estimated life of about 7-8 years and in2006 it produced 5,763 tonnes antimony contained in crude trioxide, all of which was shipped to the Reynosa smelter in Mexico operated by Chentura, the world's largest plastic additives company.
Table - 4 : Exports of Antimony Alloys and Scrap (By Countries)
2006-07 Country Qty (t) Value (Rs.000) Qty (t) Value (Rs.000) 2007-08
Kyrgyzstan
Prior to closure in 2004, the Kadamjas antimony smelter in Kyrgyzstan has been struggling to obtain sufficient antimony concentrates for some years and production had dropped to an all time low of around 320 tonnes mainly because China was buying ore from Kyrgyzstan's traditional suppliers - Kazakhstan, Russia and Tajikistan. In 2005, ATF-Invest, a unit of Kazakhstan's fourth largest bank took a 70% stake in the Kadamjai plant, with the intention of
All Countries Switzerland Jordan Pakistan Thailand Nepal UK Afghanistan Italy Malaysia Saudi Arabia Other countries
2159 3 ++ 1 4 1 2150 ++
418875 3203 73 473 3783 1080 410165 98
24 2 14 5 1 2 ++ ++
6466 1998 1885 1484 603
425 21 50
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ANTIMONY
Table - 5 : Imports of Antimony Ores & Conc. (By Countries)
2006-07 Country Qty (t) Value (Rs.000) 2007-08 Qty (t) Value (Rs.000)
Tble - 6 : Imports of Antimony Alloys & Scrap (By Countries)
2006-07 Country Qty (t) Value (Rs.000) Qty (t) Value (Rs.000) 2007-08
All Countries
China Mexico Peru Austria Canada Thailand Germany UK Bolivia Chile Other countries
478
52 40 79 10 58 150 22 67
51084
9700 3176 6454 2054 7391 15876 2625 3808
693
120 180 97 24 58 50 15 23 126
63692
20780
All Countries
China
2107
2011 40 20 4 3 6 2 20 1
511906
487221 11244 5306 381 547 1565 312 5038 292
2144
2005 76 40 20 2 1 ++
391539
364453 13255 8629 4409 550 239 4
12147 5706 4743 4530 4189 3377 2764 5456
Vietnam Japan Hong Kong Nigeria Germany Bolivia Singapore Switzerland Thailand Other countries
FUTURE OUTLOOK
Continued mining restrictions in China may result in higher market prices of antimony. The future growth in demand for antimony will be much dependent on the level of requirement from the flameretardant sector which accounts for 55% primary antimony consumption worldwide and for about 90% global antimony trioxide consumption. In the flameretardant sector, antimony trioxide is used as a synergist normally with bromine and chlorine. In flame-retardant sector, 4% annual growth is predicted for the next five years and the future of antimony will depend on this sector alone.
Currently, antimony-based catalysts account for around 90% usage worldwide in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) production. A new chip based on germanium-antimonytelluride was developed abroad for 'Phase-change' Random Access Memory chips (PRAMS) which can process data faster than flash memory chips and, unlike silicon, are non-flammable. The chips are commercialised and expected to find applications in mobile telephones and digital cameras. In contrast, little or no growth is anticipated for antimony metal in metallurgical and battery markets.
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