It is one of the countries that discovered and utilized antimony ore earlier in the world. According to "Hanshu Food", "Wang Mang lived in a house and changed it to Han system. All coins were made of copper, which was confused with tin". Historical Records records: "Lianxi was produced in Changsha". The arrowheads of Qin Dynasty unearthed from Qin tombs contain antimony by spectral analysis, which shows that antimony was used very early in China. At that time, it was not called antimony, but called "Lianxi". At the end of Ming Dynasty (154 1), the world's largest antimony mine was discovered in Hunan Tin Mine, but antimony was mistaken for tin at that time, so the tin mine was named, and it was not known that it was antimony until Guangxu 16 (1890). In the 23rd year of Guangxu (1897), Jishan Plant, the earliest antimony smelting plant in tin mines, was established, which turned the "Lianxi" in China into the era of antimony production. 1908, Hunan Huachang Company introduced the volatile roasting method from France and began to smelt antimony by this method. With the rise of machinery manufacturing, the use and demand of antimony have expanded. After the development of tin mines, Banxi, Xinshao Longshan and Woxi antimony mines in Taojiang, Hunan Province were successively developed, making Hunan antimony industry the first in the country. Then, Guizhou, Yunnan, Guangxi and other provinces also successively mined some antimony mines. In the decades after 1908, China's antimony production often accounted for more than 50% of the world's total output. Only 19 12 to 1935 tin ore accounts for 36.6% of the world output and 60.9% of the whole country. 1942, Wang Chongyou, a famous nonferrous metallurgist in China and one of the earliest antimony metallurgy experts in the world, and Hodson, an American, obtained the patent right of flotation smelting-gaseous reduction smelting.
After the founding of New China, large-scale geological exploration and development of antimony ore were carried out, and antimony sulfide concentrate was developed by volatile smelting in blast furnace. The reserves and output of antimony ore in China rank first in the world, and it is exported in large quantities, producing high-purity metallic antimony (containing 99.999% antimony) and high-quality super-grade antimony white, which represents the advanced production level of antimony industry in the world.