摘要：拉尔沃托资源有限公司将于明年在澳大利亚启动一座矿山，在由中国和俄罗斯主导的锑行业中，这将是西方国家能提供的罕见新产出来源。在中国收紧关键材料出口后，这种金属的价格比一年前上涨了近四倍，引发了高科技和国防工业对锑的争夺。
含有锑的矿石
一家正在建设这种特殊金属新供应来源之一的公司表示，随着美国和欧洲补充在乌克兰使用的子弹和炸弹库存，全球广泛应用于弹药制造的锑短缺情况可能会恶化。
拉尔沃托资源有限公司将于明年在澳大利亚启动一座矿山，在由中国和俄罗斯主导的锑行业中，这将是西方国家能提供的罕见新产出来源。在中国收紧关键材料出口后，这种金属的价格比一年前上涨了近四倍，引发了高科技和国防工业对锑的争夺。
拉尔沃托公司总经理罗恩・希克斯表示，锑铅合金被用于制造子弹弹芯、炸药和榴霰弹等武器。乌克兰的西方军事支持者们已经动用了老化的库存，现在这些库存急需要补充。
希克斯说：“这些弹药中的锑和铅通常会被回收用于制造新武器，但这些弹药都已经被送到了乌克兰前线。”
子弹回收利用
希克斯说，军事应用在锑的需求中仍然只占一小部分，锑的需求主要来自阻燃剂、铅酸电池和化工行业。不包括电池领域的需求，全球每年大约需要12万吨锑，而目前的产量仅约8万吨。
去年12月，中国为反制美国限制向中国出口芯片，禁止向美国出口锑、镓和锗，彰显了其对这些战略材料的强有力掌控。虽然美国总统唐纳德・特朗普正在寻求结束乌克兰战争，但他的“美国优先”外交政策正促使欧洲国家增加包括在弹药方面的国防开支。
据曼德勒资源公司称，中国、俄罗斯和塔吉克斯坦生产的锑约占全球锑矿产量的87%。曼德勒资源虽然在在澳大利亚运营着一座矿山，但产量仅占全球的2%且正在下降。
拜登政府虽在去年11月批准了爱达荷州一个由美国国防部提供部分资金的锑矿项目，以增加国内供应，但无水不解近渴，短期内难以真正发挥帮助解决美国和西方锑金属严重短缺的问题。拉尔沃托公司称，虽然其格罗夫希尔项目将是澳大利亚最大的锑矿，但其供应量也仅能满足全球需求的7%左右。
俄乌冲突已持续3年，双方弹药消耗均非常惊人
Metal For Bullets Risks Bigger Shortage After Near-300% Surge. By Paul-Alain Hunt, Bloomberg, Thu, March 6, 2025.
A global shortage of antimony — widely used in munitions — could worsen as the US and Europe replenish stockpiles of bullets and bombs used in Ukraine, according to the company building one of the niche metal’s few new sources of supplies.
Larvotto Resources Ltd. (K6X.F) is due to start a mine in Australia next year, offering a rare new stream of output from a Western nation in an antimony industry dominated by China and Russia. Prices of the metal are nearly four times higher than a year ago, after Beijing tightened exports of critical materials, triggering a scramble for supplies across high-tech and defense industries.
Antimony-lead alloys are used in bullet cores, explosives and shrapnel weapons. Ukraine’s Western military backers have drawn on ageing inventory that will now need replaced, Larvotto’s managing director Ron Heeks said in an interview.
“The antimony and lead from these munitions would normally be recycled into new weapons, but those have gone to the front line in Ukraine,” Heeks said.
Military applications remain a small segment of antimony’s demand, which is dominated by flame retardants, lead-acid batteries and the chemicals industry. Excluding the batteries, the world needs about 120,000 tons a year and it’s only producing about 80,000 tons, Heeks said.
China in December slapped a ban on US-bound exports of antimony, gallium and germanium, flexing its strong grip on strategic materials. While US President Donald Trump is pursuing an end to the Ukraine war, his America-first foreign policy is spurring European nations to ramp up defense spending — including on munitions.
China, Russia and Tajikistan produce about 87% of the world’s mined antimony supply, according to Mandalay Resources Corp. (R7X2.F), which operates a mine in Australia that counts for just 2%, and where output is declining.
The Biden administration last November gave initial approval to a proposed mine in Idaho that was part-funded by the Defense Department to generate domestic supplies. Larvotto’s Grovehill project will be Australia’s biggest antimony mine, supplying as much as 7% of global demand, according to the company.
来源：读行品世事