The Commodity
Antimony Sb
The critical mineral powering the future
What is antimony
Antimony is a metalloid, chemical symbol Sb, most commonly sourced from the mineral stibnite. It has been used industrially for centuries, but its strategic importance has grown sharply in recent years as it has become central to defence manufacturing, energy storage and electronics, at exactly the time its supply has become one of the most geopolitically exposed in the critical minerals sector.
Antimony's properties, including flame resistance, hardness and the ability to alloy effectively with other metals, make it difficult to substitute across a wide range of applications.
Why antimony matters
Defence
Used to harden lead in ammunition and armour piercing rounds, and a key input in night vision devices and infrared sensors.
Flame retardants
Antimony trioxide is one of the most widely used flame retardant additives in plastics, textiles and electronics, valued for working safely across many material types.
Energy storage
Used in lead-acid batteries, and emerging as a key component in calcium-antimony liquid metal batteries for grid-scale storage.
Electronics & glass
Antimony compounds are used in semiconductor manufacturing and in specialty glass products, including some solar glass applications.
Alloys
Improves the hardness, strength and corrosion resistance of a range of industrial alloys.
Supply
A concentrated global supply chain
Global antimony production and processing is highly concentrated. Since August 2024, China has periodically tightened export controls on antimony, a development that has caused significant price volatility and placed antimony firmly at the centre of the broader conversation about critical minerals supply security.
China
Majority of global mine production and an even larger share of processing and refining capacity
Others
A small number of countries including Russia, Tajikistan, Bolivia and Myanmar
Bottleneck
Building smelting and refining capability takes considerably longer than bringing a mine into production
Even as new mining projects are developed outside China, industry analysis widely points to processing and refining capacity outside China remaining a bottleneck for years to come, since building smelting and refining capability takes considerably longer than bringing a mine into production.
The US position
No domestic mine since the mid-1990s
The United States has not had a meaningful domestic antimony mine in operation since the mid-1990s, and consequently imports the overwhelming majority of the antimony it consumes. This gap has taken on particular urgency given antimony's role in defence manufacturing, and antimony is formally designated a critical mineral by the United States government, alongside similar designations from the European Union and Australia.
In response, US government agencies have taken an increasingly active role in supporting the development of new domestic and allied antimony supply. These pathways remain under active development across the sector, and companies engaging with them, including Antimony Resources, are doing so on an ongoing basis as programs and funding decisions evolve.
Policy and funding tools
- Direct funding support for antimony development projects, such as the US Department of Defense's funding of Perpetua Resources' Stibnite Gold project in Idaho
- The Defense Production Act
- The Inflation Reduction Act
- Export financing support through agencies such as the Export-Import Bank of the United States
Why this matters for Antimony Resources
This is the supply gap Antimony Resources is working to help close. Our dual track strategy, near-term production potential in Mexico paired with a longer-term exploration platform in Nevada, is designed specifically around this structural gap between global demand for antimony and the very small number of credible, independent sources of supply currently in development.