IN a labyrinth of tunnels running beneath 4,000m-high peaks, Tajik miners are scrabbling to secure antimony, one of the metals at the centre of a worldwide race for rare minerals.
The silver grey element, once best known as an ingredient in cosmetics, is a key resource in strategic industries – powering the clean energy transition and toughening military equipment.
In Saritag, in the steep valleys of western Tajikistan, the 1,500 employees of mining firm Talco Gold scour some 50km of underground galleries.
Where once Tajiks sought gold, now they are branching out.
“We are conducting drilling operations to determine what underground mineral resources are present,” explained miner Imomkhasan Yorov, during a rare visit to the huge, remote site.
The miners drill sample holes 50m long to check for minerals and can dig a 54m tunnel for extraction in half a day, said underground site manager Kholmakhmad Khakimzoda.
Once extracted, the antimony will find its way into the batteries and solar panels of the renewable energy industry or reinforce the armour protecting military vehicles on future battlefields.
Bags of 30% pure antimony sitting outside a processing facility, ready to be exported and used in the manufacturing of batteries, solar panels and other products and devices. — AFP
It is just one of the metals and rare earths that have triggered a rush of interest in mineral deposits across Central Asia, from the mountains of Kyrgyzstan to the deserts of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.
China – which operates the Saritag mine jointly with a Tajik enterprise – is dominant in the sector but Russia, the European Union, the United States and Gulf states are all scrambling to secure a share.
“There are many antimony deposits in Tajikistan,” said Murad Dzhumazoda, deputy director of Talco Gold, which produces 10% of global supply.
According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), China represents nearly half of the world’s antimony production, followed by Tajikistan with a quarter – around 21,000 tonnes in 2023.
Antimony can be found both in open cast quarries and through deep mining in tunnels, Dzhumazoda explained, speaking over the clatter of new vehicles and rock-crushing equipment from Chinese, Finnish and Swedish manufacturers.
Concerned that allowing rivals to control the mineral supply chain could threaten its economic sovereignty, the European Union is monitoring 34 elements designated “critical raw materials”.
Antimony is on the list, along with rare earths, natural rubber and several hard-to-find metals.
Workers of Talco Gold, the joint Tajik-Chinese mining firm, extracting antimony in open cast quarries at the Saritag mine in western Tajikistan. — AFP
Each has irreplaceable characteristics in strategic sectors of the economy, with supply chains controlled by a limited number of actors.
According to the European Commission, 54% of the EU’s antimony imports come from Tajikistan.
Its price hit a record high last year when China introduced export restrictions.
Tajikistan is banking on the new minerals rush to fund industrialisation.
Wracked by civil wars in the 1990s, it still has one of the weakest economies across the former Soviet Union.
Portraits of veteran national leader Emomali Rakhmon, in power since 1992, loom over the Talco miners, along with extracts of his speeches.
“Significant reserves of raw materials ensure accelerated industrialisation,” one of them reads.
Before being exported, the ore extracted at Talco is crushed at an enrichment plant, where “5,000 tonnes are processed daily, ground in two immense drums”, said manager Fayzullo Safarov.
Antimony is processed daily at a nearby enrichment plant in order to extract the precious mineral for export and distribution. — AFP
The metal is separated from the ore using chemical reagents in a flotation tank.
Then the concentrate is filtered and dried in sedimentation basins.
The resulting sand is then bagged as 30% pure antimony.
It is a complex process on an ambitious scale, made possible by a huge Chinese investment in 2022.
Next up is the construction of an antimony purification plant, further concentrating control over the production chain.
Miners walking through one of the site’s many underground tunnels. — AFP
The site is a Soviet-era mine, built by Moscow.
Mosaics glorifying antimony extraction and a faded portrait of Soviet revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin are visible in the rock.
But China has gradually replaced Russian influence and is now the dominant mining power in Central Asia.
And it is China’s Xi Jinping who appears next to Tajikistan’s president on a billboard-sized poster, celebrating the “golden key of Tajikistan-China friendship”. — AFP
