Price of antimony

Prices. The price of antimony metal has declined steadily since 1984. The principal reason for the fall in antimony prices is the oversupply of material, especially from Chinese sources, in relation to demand, which has been stable or decreasing during the 1980s. Antimony prices have fallen to such an extent that some producers of antimony products now find it more economical to use antimony metal as feed material in place of antimony ore and concentrates. 

The comparatively low yield, together with the high price of antimony pen-tachloride, make this process economically unattractive. 

Mitallurgie, published at 20, rue Turgot, Paris. This is a weokly pablica-tion, and contains the most complete detailed prices of antimony. 

Aqueous solutions of boric acid (H3BO3) and borax (Na2B207 x IOH2O) at a mass ratio of 5 to 6 were successfully used for fire-retardance of cellulosic textiles in the twenties. Sodium, potassium, and lithium borates are readily water-soluble. They therefore, continue to be used in the textile, wood, and paper industry. The increasing demand for and the rising price of antimony trioxide is another factor which has promoted research into the use of boron compounds for the flame-retardancy of plastics. 

The research journals are the primary place where research results are first published. The prices of compounds change rapidly, and are to be found in journals instead of books. The New York Times finance page lists a number of commonly traded metals (aluminum, antimony, copper, gold, iron, lead, mercury, platinum, silver, zinc), food (corn, soya, wheat, rice, sugar), fuels (fuel oil, gasoline, natural gas), and textile (cotton, wool). The Chemical Market Report is a weekly journal that lists the prices of many chemical substances in a supplement, which depend strongly on purity and intended use. 

The market of antimony ore is, in a general way, confined to a fcv smeltei-8 and their agents, and the price is chiefly a more matter of private contract, generally according to the principle of sliding scales. 

Withinthe last few years Japan has ceased to be a factor in the antimony market. TluG United States cannot produce antimony with profit at prices below 20 c. per lb. Australia and China are likely to become the principal producers of antimony ores. Perhaps, with better facilities of transportation, the South American mines could be worked with profit. 

The market for antimony oxides is dependant on PVC and brominated FRs, since the trioxide works as a synergist with halogens, whether in the polymer itself or as an additive. Raw materials are a key cost at around 80% of the product. Bolivia and Guatemala have closed their antimony ore mines due to low prices and China is now the leading source of antimony ore. 

Antimony usage is still growing at around 3%/y, according to BRG Townsend. China has established a very strong position in the supply of antimony trioxide at competitive prices. 

Antimonial-lead alloys are the main additional by-product, but returns depend on local demand and the particular alloys required, and are difficult to quantify in a general way. With the popularity of calcium-lead alloys for sealed, maintenance free batteries, the price of aniimonial alloys declined, but has resurged due to increased demand for specialised batteries. Clearly this market is quite volatile. 

Other examples of how metal-containing compounds act through a gas phase mechanism can be mentioned. Martin and Price [116] used triphenylic derivatives of antimony, arsenic, bismuth and tributyl acetates in order to reduce the combustibility of epoxy polymers. It is known that triphenylstibine evaporates without noticeable decomposition at temperature close to 360°C. The effectiveness of its action is greater than that of the bromine flame retardant (with 46% Br). Thus when there are 7 Sb atoms per 10 000 atoms of C in the substrate (O.S nol.% of additive) the oxygen index of the material is higher than in the case c 13.7 mol.% bromine-containing flame retardant, i.e. 350 Br atoms per 10 000 C atoms in the substrate when the concentrations are equal (2. metal atoms per 1000 C atoms), the effectiveness of the compound decreases in the sequence Sb > As > Bi > Sn. Since arsenic compounds are very toxic, they are not of interest in this respect. 

Antimony trioxide has traditionally been a very cost effective flame retardant, although fluctuations in the supply from China in recent years has led to price volatihty. There has also been growing concern in recent years over the health and safety impUcation of antimony compounds. World-wide use of antimony oxides as flame retardants may be around 50 000 tpa. 

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