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Minerals of base metals
Published in Francis P. Gudyanga, Minerals in Africa, 2020
The predominant mineral ore of antimony is stibnite (Sb2 S3) with the element’s abundance in the Earth’s crust estimated at 0.2 to 0.5 parts per million in over 100 mineral species. The element antimony is stable in air at room temperature and resistant to attack by acids.
Characteristics of the Metal–Metal Oxide Reaction Matrix
Published in Anthony Peter Gordon Shaw, Thermitic Thermodynamics, 2020
Arsenic and antimony are metalloids, but bismuth, below them in group 15, is a metal. Small amounts of antimony can be added to lead to increase the hardness of the resulting Sb–Pb alloys [35]. Lead–antimony alloy grids have been used in lead-acid batteries. The crystalline form of antimony sulfide, Sb2S3, occurs naturally as the mineral stibnite. Powdered Sb2S3 is abrasive, and it also reacts vigorously with strong oxidizers. It has been used in match compositions along with potassium chlorate and other components [36]. Bismuth is nearly as dense as lead and melts at a similar temperature. Accordingly, bismuth is used as a lead substitute for a variety of purposes. It was once thought that bismuth atoms contained the heaviest stable nuclei. However, the only naturally occurring isotope, 209Bi, is actually metastable with respect to α-decay. The half-life of 209Bi is 1.9 × 1019 years or more than one billion times the estimated age of the universe [37]. These α-decay events are exceptionally rare, and bismuth can be treated as if it were nonradioactive.
Lead, silver, and antimony
Published in R. F. Tylecote, The Prehistory of Metallurgy in the British Isles, 2017
Although antimony is one of the few metals that occur in the native state its occurrence in this form is extremely rare, and most of the world’s antimony used to be extracted from the minerals stibnite (Sb2S3) or jamesonite (Pb4FeSb6S14). In very early times stibnite was used as an eyepaint because of its intense blackness and as a colourant in glazes, beads, and faience, where in conjunction with lead it confers a yellow colour. Its use as a cosmetic is however much rarer than usually thought mainly owing to the fact that there were many other more common black pigments.
Stabilization and encapsulation of arsenic-/antimony-bearing mine waste: Overview and outlook of existing techniques
Published in Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology, 2021
Antimony occurs in more than 100 minerals, mainly as sulfides, oxides, and complex sulfides (mostly with copper, lead, and argent), such as stibnite (Sb2S3), valentinite (β-Sb2O3), tetrahedrite ((Cu,Fe)12Sb4S13), bournonite (PbCuSbS3), and pyrargyrite (Ag3SbS3). Of these, stibnite is the most important Sb mineral and primary commercial source of Sb (Alloway, 1995; Kabata-Pendias & Mukherjee, 2007). Stibnite is typically associated with sphalerite (ZnS), pyrite, or galena (PbS), and in mercury deposits, albeit less frequently (Alloway, 1995). The exploitation of stibnite and other associated elements has generated considerable amounts of mine waste. Stibnite is not thermodynamically stable under atmospheric conditions, excluding highly reducing conditions (Vink, 1996). Mine waste containing stibnite easily leaches Sb (Wilson et al., 2004). Thus, it has been reported that the dissolution of this mineral released up to 55 mg Sb L−1 (Ashley et al., 2003). The dissolution of stibnite occurs quickly in mine waste (within days or weeks). It can occur through two primary mechanisms (Ashley et al., 2003) (Figure 1B), which are described below.
Rejection of antimony and bismuth in sulphide flotation – a literature review
Published in Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy, 2021
Leanne Kathleen Smith, Warren John Bruckard, Graham Jeffrey Sparrow
Stibnite is the mineral that provides nearly all the world’s supply of antimony. This mineral has a sub-conchoidal fracture, is lead grey in colour and has a Moh hardness of 2 and a density of 4.6 g.cm−3. It forms a solid solution series with bismuthinite. Stibnite has a structure in which layers of covalently bonded atoms are held together by weak van der Waals bonds. These areas of weaker van der Waal bonds coincide with the perfect cleavage plane, (010). When ground, stibnite fractures along this plane resulting in the formation of hydrophobic surfaces (Chander et al. 1975).