REVIEW OF CURRENT ANTIMONY INDUSTRY POSITION IN RUSSIA

Abstract

The relevance of the research is conditioned by the existence of contradiction between the export commodity flow of the extracted antimony raw materials and the total import dependence of Russia on commodity antimony products. Purpose: to study the dynamics of commodity flows (production, import, export, consumption) of antimony raw materials in Russia, their prices (world and Russian), the resource base of antimony in Russia, and the national economic prospects of its extraction and processing. Methods: statistical, graphical, and logical. Results. As one of the world leaders in the extraction of antimony raw materials (up to 26 thousand tons/year), Russia practically does not process them and imports up to 1 thousand tons/year of metallic antimony and up to 2 thousand tons/year of antimony oxides. The export of antimony raw materials exceeds the import of marketable antimony products by 1,9 ... 8,4 times. Antimony in Russia is a strategic type of mineral product with a sufficient mineral resource base and at the same time a critical product due to the total dependence of imports on consumption. There is a need to create a national antimony processing industry producing antimony products with an extra surplus value. The current production of antimony raw materials (Sarylakh and Olimpiada deposits) many times overshadow the internal demand for antimony marketable products. It is possible to expand the production of antimony by bringing into operation the suspended (Sentachan, Zhipkosha) and new deposits (Solonechenskoy), as well as increasing the mineral resource base through prospecting and exploration, primarily within the East Transbaikal and Sarylakh-Sentachan antimony provinces. It is possible to improve the technologies for processing antimony raw materials (energy saving, hydrometallurgy, biooxidation) in order to reduce operating costs and increase the environmental safety of the production of antimony products.

Keywords

• antimony raw materials
• export of raw materials
• import dependence
• critical commodity product
• raw-materials base
• projects