For years, the only buyers for the antimony Jabbar Khan sourced from wildcat traders in Afghanistan were secretive Chinese intermediaries, who bargained hard over the price.
Now, Khan, chief operating officer at Himalayan Earth Exploration company, is fielding calls from US buyers interested in stockpiling the silvery-white rock vital to the production of missiles, batteries and flame retardants from Pakistan and central Asia.
The price of antimony trioxide has shot up to around $40,000 per tonne — off its peak of more than $60,000 as some users seek alternatives but still substantially higher than $26,000 in September 2024 — as fears about China’s control of the supply chains for metals including antimony have sparked a global race to secure supplies.