Antimony explorers drilled a record 159 holes in 2023 and a further 139 this year as of Sept. 17, as they chase skyrocketing prices for the commodity, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.

The price of antimony has reached a record high of $23,500 per metric ton on Sept. 13, doubling from $11,350/t on Jan. 1. Prices surged in June, and China's inclusion of antimony in its list of critical minerals subject to export controls in August added to concerns.

Antimony's largest end-use is as a flame retardant, but it is also used in defense applications, solar panels and batteries. It has thus been added to critical minerals lists by the US, Canada, Australia, Japan and the EU, among others, due to the supply risks of production being highly concentrated in China.

"China's announcement of antimony export restrictions has added fuel to a red-hot market and opens another potential flash point with the West for control of critical minerals," Hertz Energy Inc. said Sept. 16 when it acquired the Lake George antimony mine in New Brunswick, Canada, after starting exploration at the Harriman antimony property in Quebec four days earlier.

A sample from Iltani Resources' Antimony Reward project in Queensland, Australia, which delivered 46.5% antimony in assay results this month. Source: Iltani Resources Ltd.

Donald Garner, managing director of Iltani Resources Ltd., sees antimony's prospects only getting better in the foreseeable future.

Aside from China's export controls, the price increase was also driven by diminishing long-term supply from large Chinese mines and rising demand from the solar cell sector, which is expected to account for up to 40% of global demand by 2026, Garner told S&P Global Commodity Insights on Sept. 17.

Explorers following antimony market

The US Forest Service published a draft record of decision authorizing Perpetua Resources Corp.'s Stibnite gold project in Idaho on Sept. 6, just "days before China's antimony export restrictions went into effect" on Sept. 15, the company said. The site is poised to become the only source of antimony mined in the US and will "provide a critical part of the solution to the United States strategic need for antimony," the company said.

Locksley Resources Ltd. has also mobilized its exploration team to conduct a follow-up sampling program to evaluate the potential of the known antimony mineralization at the Mojave project in California, managing director Steve Woodham said in a Sept. 12 statement.

Siren Gold Ltd. CEO Victor Rajasooriar said a 66% increase in the antimony resource at the Auld Creek project in New Zealand's West Coast, announced Sept. 17, "positions Reefton to be a potential supplier of antimony to Western countries and could fast track New Zealand as the next producer of this critical mineral."

New Zealand has included antimony in the inaugural draft of its critical minerals list released Sept. 15.

Meanwhile in Australia, a mapping and sampling program at Iltani Resources Ltd.'s Antimony Reward project in Queensland delivered assays grading up to 46.5% antimony, from an area outside the zone of historical drilling, according to a Sept. 16 announcement. The company intends to start drilling by the end of September.

"We are all extremely excited as to the potential of the Antimony Reward system to deliver a high-grade antimony resource," Iltani's Garner said. With antimony trading at record prices, "there is not a better time to be doing this work," the executive added.

Octava Minerals Ltd. said in a Sept. 17 statement that it plans to start exploring previously identified antimony targets at the Yallalong project in Western Australia "in the coming quarter," spurred by historic high-grade results. "There is definitely unfinished business for antimony at Yallalong," Managing Director Bevan Wakelam said in the statement.

Similarly, Critical Resources Ltd. recently commenced a targeted desktop study at the Hillgrove South prospect at the Halls Peak project in New South Wales, Australia, "given recent discoveries and the global shift in antimony supply dynamics," the explorer said Sept. 12.