Material Insights · Understanding the Material World

Antimony and Lead

Antimony hardens lead for battery grids and ammunition, and much of it is recovered from scrap batteries at lead smelters, so the lead-acid battery chain is both a main user and a main recycled source of antimony; antimony prices more than doubled in 2025 after China's 2024 export curbs.

Antimony (commodity) and Lead (commodity): 4 relationships.

How they are linked

1. Hardener for lead alloys

Physical flow · Medium · Antimony → lead battery grids and ammunition

Pure lead is too soft for battery grids and bullets, so a small addition of antimony is used to harden it and add strength.

  • about 40% share of US antimony use in antimonial lead and ammunition, 2025
  • about 67% share of US lead use in lead-acid batteries, 2025

Batteries take about two thirds of US lead use, and antimonial lead, much of it for batteries, is a major use of antimony, which ties the two markets together. The link is not fixed: grids can use combinations of calcium, copper, selenium, sulphur and tin instead, so higher antimony prices push battery makers further towards antimony-free grids.

Sources: USGS; USGS

2. Recovered from scrap batteries

Physical flow · Strong · Spent batteries → secondary lead and antimonial lead

When secondary smelters melt down old batteries, the antimony in the grids comes back as antimonial lead, so lead recycling is also antimony recycling.

  • about 12% share of US antimony consumption supplied by recycling, 2025
  • about 70% secondary lead output relative to US lead consumption, 2025

Nearly all secondary lead comes from old scrap, mostly lead-acid batteries, and most secondary antimony is recovered at the same smelters. This loop softens supply shocks for battery alloys, but the antimony returned depends on what went into batteries years earlier.

Sources: USGS; USGS

3. By-product of lead smelting

Joint production · Medium · Lead smelting → antimony

Antimony often occurs in lead-zinc-silver ores and is commonly obtained as a by-product of smelting them, so primary lead smelters are a possible source of new antimony outside China.

  • up to 5,000 t a year potential antimony output at Nyrstar's Port Pirie lead smelter

Nyrstar says it could add a processing stage after lead smelting at Port Pirie in Australia, but would need government support. Such by-product supply depends on the lead smelter staying viable, so antimony security and lead smelter economics are linked.

Sources: Indian Bureau of Mines; Mining.com (Reuters)

4. Chinese export curbs

Shared risk · Strong · Chinese policy → antimony for lead alloys

China is the largest mine producer of both antimony and lead, and its export rules set antimony supply for battery and ammunition makers elsewhere.

  • about 36% China's share of world antimony mine output, 2025 (40 of 110 kt)
  • $25/lb average US antimony price, 2025, against $10.24 a pound in 2024
  • about 42% China's share of world lead mine output, 2025 (1.9 of 4.5 Mt)

China announced antimony export restrictions in August 2024 and banned exports to the United States in December 2024. The price more than doubled in 2025, raising the cost of antimonial lead alloys and the value of antimony recovered from scrap batteries.

Sources: USGS; USGS

For investors

Key learnings

  1. The lead-acid battery chain is both a main antimony user and, through recycling, a main antimony source.
  2. Antimony prices more than doubled in 2025 after China's 2024 curbs, which strengthens the case for antimony-free grid alloys and raises the value of antimony recovered from scrap batteries.
  3. New antimony outside China may come from lead smelters such as Port Pirie, whose viability depends on lead economics and state support.

What to track

  • Antimony price (Rotterdam or US): Cost pressure on antimonial lead and incentive to switch alloys (Weekly · Fastmarkets, Argus)
  • Chinese antimony export rules and volumes: Signals tightening or easing of supply (Monthly · China customs and Ministry of Commerce)
  • Secondary lead output: Volume of antimony returning through battery recycling (Yearly · USGS, International Lead and Zinc Study Group)

For policymakers

Key learnings

  1. India has no antimony production (Indian Bureau of Mines, 2022 yearbook), so its battery and defence alloy needs rest on imports and recycled antimonial lead.
  2. Formal lead-acid battery recycling recovers both lead and antimony, so recycling rules support antimony security as well as pollution control.
  3. Lead-zinc smelters are the natural place to look for domestic by-product antimony, since antimony is commonly obtained from lead-zinc-silver smelting.

What to track

  • Antimony import volumes and sources: Dependence on China and other suppliers (Yearly · Ministry of Commerce, Indian Bureau of Mines)
  • Battery recycling collected and processed through registered recyclers: Share of antimony and lead kept in the formal loop (Yearly · Central Pollution Control Board)

India

India has no antimony production and imported 4,555 t of antimony ores and concentrates in 2021-22, with alloys and scrap mainly from Oman, China and Vietnam; it mined about 220 kt of lead in 2025.

Sources

  1. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Antimony, USGS (2026)
  2. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Lead, USGS (2026)
  3. Indian Minerals Yearbook 2022: Antimony, Indian Bureau of Mines (2023)
  4. Nyrstar seeks government funding for antimony production, Mining.com (Reuters) (2025)