3.16.3.1 Availability and Consumption

China has favorable conditions for developing its antimony industry. Firstly, it has rich antimony resources. Secondly, its mining-dressing-smelting capacity is high. Thirdly, the primary products made by China, such as antimony concentrates, refined antimony, crude antimony oxide, antimony sulfide powder and Pb-Sb alloy, are large in quantity and high in quality, providing better conditions for studying and developing intensively processed antimony products. However, the inadequate use or neglect of the favorable conditions, coupled with improper management, have caused some problems restricting the healthy development of the antimony industry in the country. For instance, some managers were eager for quick success and instant benefit and some enterprises produced excessive antimony concentrates or metal, leading to excessive consumption of the antimony resources. Regarding the country's consumption of its reserves in producing antimony concentrates and metal, the annual average production of antimony concentrates in the period 1994~1996 stood at 110,000 tons, while that of antimony metal in the same period was 120,000 tons. If the country does not limit its antimony metal production and continues the production at the same size (120,000 tons), then it would consume 260,000 tons per year of its antimony metal reserve (calculated based on the general recovery of 45% in the ore mining-dressing-smelting and the expending of  2.2 tons of the antimony metal reserve for producing 1 ton of antimony metal). This consumption is equivalent to the reserves of two large (100,000-ton) antimony deposits, that means, the consumption of antimony reserves within 10 years would be 2.60 million tons and the present 2.78 million tons of retained reserves would be largely used up. In addition, in recent years it has been a  very common practice for local people to carry out abusive or wasteful mining, resulting in very serious damages to and waste of the antimony resources. Therefore, China's superiority in antimony resources will cease to exist in 10 years if the exploration is not strengthened and no additional reserves are discovered.

These problems have received attention from concerned administrative departments of the country. To protect and rationally develop the valuable antimony resources, the State Council of China has classified W, Sn, Sb, and ion-type rare earths as special minerals to be mined in a protective way and managed in a unified planned manner. At present, China is strengthening the implementation of legal regulations on antimony development, deepening relevant reform, readjusting the administration system of antimony industry, taking the path of management by group company, actively regulating the structure of antimony products (i.e. realizing the transformation from primary to intensively-processed antimony products), exporting the products in a unified way and preventing multi-channel exportation and management, cutting back the production to increase the value of antimony products, and trying to rationally develop the antimony resources. If the production of antimony concentrates and metal is cut by 30,000~40,000 tons each year, the present reserves would be enough to secure the country's antimony production in about 20 years. Furthermore, the country's good metallogenic setting for antimony resources and high potential for exploration of antimony deposits make it possible to guarantee the sustainable development of its antimony industry.With respect to the present state of consumption of antimony products, the percentages of different antimony products in the world's consumption structure are roughly as follows: 70% of the world's antimony consumption goes to conbustion-resistant agents, 10% to batteries, 10% to chemicals, 4% to enamel and glass, and 6% to others.

As for China, it consumed about 10,000 tons of antimony in the early 1990s. The percentages of different antimony products in China's consumption structure were: 59.7% of its antimony consumption was for refined antimony, 25% for Sb2O3, 7.6% for antimony sulfide and 7.7% for sodium antimonate. The applications of Sb2O3 in China are different from those in foreign countries. In the USA, Japan and Western Europe, the Sb2O3 used in various combustion-resistant agents accounts for 80% of the total consumption in antimony products, while in China, the percentage is only 21.2% and the Sb2O3 is used mainly in enamel (54.4%) and catalysts (24.4%).

3.16.3.2 Trends

According to investigation, the present annual demand for antimony on the international market is predicted at about 90,000 tons and the annual domestic demand in China is roughly 10,000 tons, totalling about 100,000 tons per year. Besides China, other countries produce 40,000~45,000 tons of antimony products per year. This, plus China's production, amount to 160,000~165,000 tons (figure of the year 1995) per year. Thus the world's production of antimony products will be 60%~65% more than the demand (i.e. the supply will exceed the demand), leading to the decline of antimony price on the international market.

According to the forecast by the former China National Nonferrous Metals Corp. and the former Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources, the total of China's domestic antimony demand and exports will be 36,900 tons (of which 11,900 tons is for domestic market) in the year 2000 and 46,800 tons (of which 16,800 tons is for domestic market) in the year 2010.

Antimony products are China's traditional commodities for export to earn foreign exchange. China's antimony products are low in production cost, high in quality and competitive on the international market. For example, the products of the Shanxing Brand of the Xikuangshan Bureau of Mines, the Huachang Brand of the Yiyang Antimony Plant, and the Jiutong Brand of the Banxi antimony mine are all brand-name products very famous on the international merket. The products of the Shanxing Brand, in particular, are exempt from inspection requirement on that market. China's exportation of antimony products has made great contributions to the earning of foreign exchange for the country, and should continue in a proper way in the future. An analysis indicates that to maintain and develop China's preponderance and initiative in antimony products exportation, it is proper for the country to export 25,000~30,000 tons of the products per year.

Based on the predicted antimony demand mentioned above, it is held that the required minable reserve up to the year 2000 will be 350,000 tons (cumulative tonnage in the period 1993~2000) and that from 2001~2010 will be 530,000 tons (cumulative tonnage), totalling 880,000 tons. The present retained reserve is 2.78 million tons, of which 1.58 million tons are minable. Therefore, on the whole the resources can well meet the demand up to the year 2010 and even up to the year 2020. Bur close attention must be paid to this supply-demand situation because some of the mines are old ones that have been mined for many years and some have entered their late stage of mining. Additional resources are urgently needed. Geological exploration of antimony for mines is still a heavy task. It is imperative to search for and prospect additional orebodies, ore blocks or deposits at the depth, in the periphery or near the mines that are in operation.