Polyus, Russia’s largest gold producer, released its H1 2022 production results, which showed a 79% year-on-year drop in contained antimony production to 400t for the period from its Olimpiada mine.

Polyus started recovering antimony from its Olimpiada mine in 2018 and instantly became the world’s largest producer of antimony. The move came when primary mine supply in China was dwindling to below the requirements of domestic smelters, which had turned to source antimony from all corners of the globe.

China is still the largest producer of antimony but production has more than halved over the last decade. Antimony, in the mineral form stibnite, is commonly associated with lode gold deposits. Several gold producers and many more gold projects have stated antimony resources. According to Project Blue data, by-product antimony from gold miners now accounts for over 20% of the global antimony mine supply.

At end-2020, gold prices were at record highs and Polyus dropped antimony output in 2021, swinging the antimony market into deficit. Output also remained low in H1 2022. Despite a tight market in 2022 and relatively elevated prices, Polyus remains a risk for new projects looking to enter production, given its ability to flood to market at any point. 

Antimony revenue (even at 100% value) is less than 1% of metals recovered from Olimpiada, not to mention Polyus’ broader gold production from other assets. As a result, the antimony market remains at the mercy of the gold industry and the new projects in the pipeline most likely to enter the market will solidify this trend.