Abstract:Antimony is a strategic rare metal with scarce reserves and difficult to recycle. From the supply side, in recent years, with the depletion of domestic mining resources and the improvement of environmental protection requirements, the reserve production ratio of antimony resources has been decreasing year by year (the ratio is 6 years in 2023), and antimony resources have shown a long-term trend of tight supply. China""s dependence on foreign antimony resources continues to increase. On the other hand, with the implementation of the dual carbon strategy, the photovoltaic industry has developed rapidly, and the consumption of photovoltaic glass clarifying agents is growing rapidly. In 2023, the consumption of sodium pyroantimonate exceeds 62 400 tons (equivalent to 30 600 tons of antimony metal), accounting for more than 20% of the total antimony demand, has become the second largest demand after flame retardants. In the future, with the implementation of the dual carbon strategy and global energy transformation, photovoltaics will become one of the leading global energy sources. The demand for sodium pyroantimonate will continue to grow exponentially, expected to exceed the total supply of the antimony industry chain in China. This will pose a severe challenge to China""s antimony industry. China should take measures in various links of the antimony industry chain, such as resource exploration, mining, processing and metallurgy, and resource recovery, to meet the growing demand for antimony resources in the photovoltaic industry under the dual carbon strategy.