Prospector Trails
Minerals/Technology metals
Antimony is used in flame retardants, lead-acid batteries, glass, ammunition and military uses, and semiconductors.
01 · Where it's mined
Mine output was about 110 kt in 2025: China 40 kt, Russia 32 kt and Tajikistan 22 kt (together about 85%), then Bolivia, Myanmar and Turkey. Reserves are about 2 Mt.
Mine production, Sb content, 2025. Columns on the globe show each country's share.
02 · A century of output
03 · Where it goes
Antimony ores and concentrates, 2024, by value
Arcs run from exporter to importer; thicker means more value. CEPII BACI reconciled trade data.
04 · What it's used for
Flame retardants and defence uses drive demand; solar glass is a growth use.
05 · Who calls it critical
Critical for the EU, US, UK, Canada, Australia, India, Korea and China. China introduced export controls on antimony in September 2024 and prices rose sharply.
06 · Mines to know
Spikes mark mines with output in open data; height follows reported output. Where a public source says where a mine's product goes, an arc runs to that plant.
Every antimony mine and project, by countryThe detail
Mine output was about 110 kt in 2025: China 40 kt, Russia 32 kt and Tajikistan 22 kt (together about 85%), then Bolivia, Myanmar and Turkey. Reserves are about 2 Mt.
Flame retardants and defence uses drive demand; solar glass is a growth use.
Critical for the EU, US, UK, Canada, Australia, India, Korea and China. China introduced export controls on antimony in September 2024 and prices rose sharply.
In 2025, one domestic company began mining antimony in Montana. Primary antimony metal and oxide were produced by one company in Montana using imported feedstock. Secondary antimony production came from antimonial lead recovered from spent lead-acid batteries and was intended for the lead-acid battery industry. The estimated value of secondary antimony produced in 2025 was $190 million. Recycling supplied 12% of estimated domestic apparent consumption, and the remainder came from imports. In the United States, the leading uses of antimony were metal products, including flame retardants, 49%; antimonial lead and ammunition, 40%; and nonmetal products, including ceramics and glass and rubber products, 11%.
The average antimony price in 2025 was $25 per pound, more than double of that in 2024. In 2024, the average monthly antimony price nearly doubled from $9.8 per pound in August to $18.10 per pound in December after China announced export restrictions on antimony in August and then banned all exports of antimony to the United States in December. The prices increased an additional 52% to $27.50 per pound by June 2025 followed by a decrease to $20.30 per pound in November. In October, a mining company in Idaho broke ground for construction of an antimony mine. The company was conditionally awarded $80 million of funding from the U.S. Department of War to reestablish a domestic source of antimony. According to the company, the project has total proven and probable mineral reserves of 14 million tons of antimony with an ore cutoff grade of 0.42% contained antimony. In November, another company announced that mining started at the Stibnite Hill Mine in Montana.
Selected organic compounds and hydrated aluminum oxide are substitutes as flame retardants. Chromium, tin, titanium, zinc, and zirconium compounds substitute for antimony chemicals in enamels, paint, and pigments. Combinations of calcium, copper, selenium, sulfur, and tin are substitutes for alloys in lead-acid batteries.
The bulk of secondary antimony is recovered at secondary lead smelters as antimonial lead, most of which was generated by, and then consumed by, the lead-acid battery industry.
U.S. resources of antimony are mainly in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, and Nevada. Principal identified world resources are in Australia, Bolivia, Burma, China, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, and Tajikistan. Additional antimony resources may occur in Mississippi Valley-type lead deposits in the Eastern United States.