Antimony Antimony Antimony is a chemical element with symbol Sb (from ) and atomic number 51. A lustrous gray metalloid, it is found in nature mainly as the sulfide mineral stibnite (SbS). Antimony compounds have been known since ancient times and were powdered for use as medicine and cosmetics, often known by the Arabic name, kohl. Metallic antimony was also known, but it was erroneously identified as lead upon its discovery. The earliest known description of the metal in the West was written in 1540 by Vannoccio Biringuccio. For some time, China has been the largest producer of antimony and its
Antimony risk index. This indicates that it has currently the second highest supply risk for chemical elements or element groups which are of economic value to the British economy and lifestyle. Furthermore, antimony was identified as one of 20 critical raw materials for the EU in a report published in 2014 (which revised the initial report published in 2011). As seen in Figure xxx antimony maintains high supply risk relative to its economic importance. 92% of the antimony is imported from China, which is a significantly high concentration of production. Much analysis has been conducted in the U.S. toward defining which