Antimony prospectivity
across the USA & Canada.
Orogenic and epithermal antimony, ranked and explained — validated across the USA and Canada.
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What the model reads for antimony.
Every antimony target is scored on the same seven lines of evidence — with a pathfinder-geochemistry signature tuned to this system.
Host rock
rock type and age
Gravity & magnetics
buried structures and intrusions
Radiometrics
potassium, thorium, uranium
Terrain shape
elevation, slope, aspect
Surface texture
radar (Sentinel-1)
Alteration
mineral signatures from satellite
Pathfinder chemistry
the elements that point to your commodity
Pathfinder geochemistry the model weighs
Lead signal: Arsenic, gold and mercury. These are the elements this national model actually reads to rank antimony ground.
What is antimony?
Antimony is a designated critical mineral, valued for the flame retardants, hardening alloys and emerging liquid-metal energy-storage chemistries that depend on it. It is won almost entirely as stibnite (antimony sulphide), and MineDSS models the two settings that host most of the world's primary supply: orogenic and epithermal antimony systems. In orogenic systems, antimony is concentrated by metamorphic fluids in deformed terranes and is closely bound up with gold; in epithermal systems it is deposited from shallow hydrothermal fluids in volcanic settings. Both leave a distinctive geochemical footprint — an arsenic-gold-mercury signature far wider than the ore itself — and that footprint is what a prospectivity model learns to read.
The deposit model
Orogenic antimony systems form where metamorphic fluids migrate through deformed, commonly greenstone or metasedimentary terranes and precipitate stibnite in quartz veins, shear zones and saddle reefs under strong structural control — often in the same fluid systems that carry orogenic gold. Epithermal systems form at shallow crustal levels in volcanic arcs, where cooling hydrothermal fluids deposit stibnite with silica, sulphides and clay alteration along faults and permeable horizons. Sericitic, silicic and argillic alteration mark the systems, and the arsenic-gold-mercury association is diagnostic. MineDSS reads these settings through mapped geology and rock age, gravity and magnetic structure that images faults and buried intrusions, radiometrics, terrain, satellite alteration and the pathfinder geochemistry described below.
Why it matters
Antimony sits on the critical-minerals lists of the major economies, and for good reason: it is difficult to substitute in flame retardants, it hardens the lead alloys used across industry and defence, and it is drawing fresh attention as a component of liquid-metal grid-storage chemistries. Global supply is geographically concentrated and exposed to processing and export bottlenecks, which keeps Western governments and manufacturers focused on securing diversified primary sources. That concern is sustaining exploration interest across established and frontier antimony provinces.
Where it's used
Antimony trioxide is the workhorse flame retardant that renders plastics, textiles and electronics fire-resistant. Antimony metal hardens the lead in lead-acid battery grids, bearings, cable sheathing and ammunition, and it is used in solders and specialty alloys. It also serves in glass and ceramics as a clarifying and opacifying agent, in pigments, and increasingly as an active component in emerging liquid-metal and grid-scale energy-storage systems.
How MineDSS reads it
MineDSS weighs a pathfinder suite tuned to stibnite systems — arsenic, gold, silver, tungsten, lead and mercury — alongside geophysics and satellite alteration. The arsenic-gold-mercury association is the diagnostic thread that ties antimony to its orogenic-gold and epithermal parentage, while tungsten, silver and lead track the broader hydrothermal footprint. Reading these lines together, with mapped structure and alteration, means a ranked target reflects the whole mineralising system — the fluid pathway, its alteration and its geochemical halo — rather than a single anomalous sample.
Antimony prospectivity — common questions
Which antimony deposit types does MineDSS model?
MineDSS models orogenic and epithermal antimony (stibnite) systems — the two settings that host most primary antimony supply. Orogenic systems are structurally controlled stibnite veins and shear-hosted mineralisation formed by metamorphic fluids in deformed terranes, closely associated with orogenic gold. Epithermal systems are shallow, volcanic-hosted stibnite deposited from hydrothermal fluids along faults and permeable horizons. Both share the diagnostic arsenic-gold-mercury geochemical footprint the model is trained to recognise.
How is the model's accuracy measured?
We validate every model the hard way — held-out spatial cross-validation. We hide known deposits, rebuild the model without them, then test whether it still finds them, with test blocks kept spatially separated so it cannot memorise nearby points. We are currently refreshing our published national skill figures so they reflect deployment-time performance, and will republish them per model. Coverage today spans the United States and Canada; the figures are model-level skill, never a specific site's measured accuracy, and never a discovery or JORC / NI 43-101 resource claim.
Why does the model read elements like gold, arsenic and mercury?
Here they are pathfinder elements, not commodities MineDSS is ranking on this page. Arsenic, gold and mercury form the diagnostic signature of stibnite systems, reflecting the shared fluids that carry antimony alongside gold in orogenic settings and through shallow epithermal systems. Together with silver, tungsten and lead, they help the model distinguish prospective ground from barren rock; they are geological evidence, not coverage.
Does a high MineDSS score mean there is a deposit?
No. A high score means the ground shares the geological, geophysical and geochemical characteristics of known orogenic and epithermal antimony systems, so it ranks as more prospective and warrants further work. It is a prioritisation of where to look — not a discovery, not a JORC or NI 43-101 resource or reserve estimate, and not drilling or investment advice. Ground truth still requires field verification and drilling.
Other commodities we model
Better antimony targets. Evidence you can check.
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