China has a very strong position in antimony, and it has been so for a long time. In fact, this is the metal it has dominated for the longest time. However, like many other resources, these resources are wasted due to overproduction, predatory pricing and high grades. China is now seeing a decline in its domestic share of global production. To support its dominance, it has become a major importer of artisanal and "conflict" minerals from all over the world. It then processes this imported ore/concentrate and manages to maintain a dominant position in the processed final product antimony trioxide and other products.
Is metal strategic? So far, it does not have the kind of sexy applications that other high-tech metals have, but it is still a key component of the things it uses, such as flame retardants and their historical applications as alloys used to harden lead in ordnance /Ammunition and lead-acid batteries.
Now, the latest new technology using this metal is the antimony molten salt battery for mass storage. The potential here is a surge in demand. If metal prices are too high and destroy the economy, this new application may fail on its own.
Light the flame under the price
After experiencing price plummets that lasted for several years and eclipsing the prospects of several antimony fans, antimony prices began to rise in 2016. It reached around US$8,500 per ton, and then plummeted again to around US$5,500. This price is the result of the panic caused by the regulators over the use of metals in flame retardants for children’s pajamas (the culprit is the European Union and Massachusetts), but the main application of flame retardants has not disappeared. Later in the Grenfell Tower fire in London, the regulators Act on flame retardants at your own risk. Pan-Asian stocks were finally sanctioned by Chinese courts in 2019, and the liquidation of FANYA's stocks at around 19,000 tons is imminent, which makes the situation even more complicated. Producer.
Thank you for joining InvestorIntel Daily Email Update
After the pandemic, as products on the market dried up, molten salt batteries captured the spirit of the times and ignited a fire below the price. The global shortage caused by the pandemic, the coup in Myanmar, long-term underinvestment, declining production in China, and the entry of molten salt batteries into the commercial market has exacerbated this move.
Concerns about regulators disappeared like gorillas in the fog in the last quarter of 2020, and there was a stampede to rebuild inventory, which plunged buyers (especially in the United States) into a frenzy of feeding. Antimony became the last six. The price of the hottest metal in the month (albeit with tin) doubled from around US$5,500 at the end of 2020 to nearly US$11,000, before falling slightly thereafter.
On the supply side, long-term low prices have hindered small-scale production by artisans outside of China.
Molten salt battery is the icing on the cake
We have written before about how antimony-based molten salt batteries started to make waves. If liquid metal batteries become a "killer application" in grid-connected storage (or non-grid-connected), then it may cause fires under antimony demand and pricing. The announcement that American Antimony Corporation (NYSE: UAMY) has reached an offtake agreement with Ambri for its production ignited a fire at the price of the stock at the end of 2020.
Mixing some metaphors, molten salt batteries have been little known so far, but they certainly have a place in the ever-evolving battery world and are expected to drive the antimony market.
In this third wave of battery metals, antimony (the main component of molten salt batteries) has joined the ranks of battery metals, and is looking for this rare commodity, that is, non-Chinese antimony miners.
Each GWh of Ambri battery needs about 1% of the current annual output of these (calcium and antimony) anode and cathode materials. This is our closest way to predicting how much antimony might be consumed if the Ambri product line gains traction. The current annual production of antimony is about 170,000 tons, which means that 1 GW of Ambri battery uses 1.7 tons of antimony.
Fine selection between actual and desired producers
Despite the excitement of metal prices, the stock market still lacks options for this metal. This small mine includes gold/silver miner Mandalay Resources (TSX: MND), whose Costerfield mine in Victoria, Australia uses antimony as a by-product, and American antimony, which curiously focuses on Los Juarez Mexico Silver antimony mine. Red River Resources Limited (ASX: RVR), another developer primarily focused on gold, is trying to revitalize the Hillsgrove mine in New South Wales (its by-product is Sb) and Perpetua Resources Corp. (NASDAQ: PPTA) ) Midas Gold has a large-scale project in Idaho (again focusing on gold). This project may also meet half of the current US demand for antimony, replacing China as the main supplier of the United States. It will be interesting to see if the price spike will expand the scope of stock market offerings.
Christopher Ecclestone is the chief and mining strategist of Hallgarten & Company, based in London. Before the establishment of Hallgarten & Company in 2003,... <Read more about Christopher Ecclestone>
Copyright © 2021 InvestorIntel Corp. all rights reserved. More and disclaimer »
Christopher If a 1 GW Ambri molten salt battery uses 1.7 tons of Sb, then a 250 GWh factory will only consume 425 tons of Sb per year. A lithium-ion battery factory with an annual output of 250 GWh needs 16,000 tons of lithium per year to produce the same storage capacity output. I think you mean 1.7 kilotons of antimony per 250 GWh. Compared with lithium-ion batteries, this is still a significant cost and usability improvement. Jack
Your email address will not be published. Required places have been marked *
Notify me when replying to this post
Notify me of new posts via email
This website uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how to handle your comment data.
Looking ahead to 2021 (click here to view the 2020 rare earth market review), first a quick review [...]
Australia may be lagging behind in supporting electric vehicles and reducing greenhouse gases; but the Australian government is stepping up […]
December 13, 2021 (source)-Based on the revolutionary method of detecting the virus that causes Covid-19, Sixth Wave Innovations Inc. (CSE: [...]
In a recent InvestorIntel interview, Tracy Weslosky spoke with Mike Druhan, President of Dermatology Services, and Naman Demaghlatrous, Managing Director, [...]
Highlights Francis (Frank) Fannon joined Nano One as a strategic consultant for energy resources and global affairs. Complete the public […]
As we all know, alcohol addiction is one of the most serious addictions in society, costing billions of dollars each year. A 2010 […]
December 13, 2021 (Source)-Global Energy Metals Corporation (TSXV:GEMC) (OTC:GBLEF) (FSE:5GE1) ("Global Energy Metals", "Company" and/or "GEMC"), a participating investment [...]
When we look back at the reincarnation of the California rare earth mining project, what is the difference in one year, it’s just [...]
December 10, 2021 (Source)-Neo Lithium Corp. ("Neo Lithium" or "Company") (TSXV: NLC) (OTCQX: NTTHF) (FSE: NE2) is pleased to [...]