Production

Antimony output in 2005

World production trend of antimony

In 2005, the People's Republic of China was the top producer of antimony with about 84% world share followed at a distance by South Africa, Bolivia and Tajikistan, reports the British Geological Survey. The mine with the largest deposits in China is Xikuangshan Mine in Hunan province with an estimated deposit of 2.1 million metric tons.[28] In October 2011 a deposit of antimony was found in a shallow seabed about 50 km off Amami-Oshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture. The discovery was the first time that antimony had been found at such shallow depths (480 meters), with this type of mineral deposit only ever having been found in depths in excess of 1000 meters.[29]

The extraction of antimony from ores depends on the quality of the ore and composition of the ore. Most of the antimony is mined as sulfide. Lower grade ores are concentrated by froth flotation while higher grade ores are heated to 500–600°C, at this temperature stibnite melts and is separated from the gangue minerals. Antimony can be isolated from the crude antimony sulfide by a reduction with scrap iron:[30]

The sulfide is converted to an oxide and advantage is often taken of the volatility of antimony(III) oxide, which is recovered from roasting.[31] This material is often used directly for the main applications, impurities being arsenic and sulfide.[32][33] Isolating antimony from its oxide is performed by a carbothermal reduction:[32][30]

The lower grade ores are reduced in blast furnaces while the higher grade ores are reduced in reverberatory furnaces.[30]

People's Republic of China	120,000	88.9
South Africa	3,000	2.2
Bolivia	3,000	2.2
Russia	3,000	2.2
Tajikistan	2,000	1.5
Top 5	131,000	97.0

Notice that 97% of the worlds antimony is produced in this region. Silverado potentially could be a big help in this area as exports have been stopped from China. Today President Obama is speaking about the lack of exports of rare earth and other crucial minerals from China, and how they are vital to the United States.