----Interview with Jiang Jinguang General Manager Taojiang Jiutong Antimony Industry Co., Ltd.
Jiutong Antimony Industry, whose predecessor is Taojiang Banxi Antimony Mine, is a joint mining company that integrates mining, beneficiation and smelting and has more than 120-year mining history. In 2006, it was reconstructed into Taojiang Jiutong Antimony Industry Co., Ltd. and mainly works on Jiutong antimony ingot business with an annual capacity of 4,000t which is well sold at home and abroad. Its official website is www.jiutongmining.com.
Asian Metal: Please introduce your company's main business, production and operation first.
Mr. Jiang: Jiutong Antimony Industry, whose predecessor is Taojiang Banxi Antimony Mine, is a joint mining company that integrates mining, beneficiation and smelting with more than 120-year mining history. In 2006, it was reconstructed into Taojiang Jiutong Antimony Industry Co., Ltd. and its actual controller is Hangzhou Nabel Group. As a key enterprise and big taxpayer in Taojiang County of Yiyang City for many years, our company runs stably with normal production now and mainly works on Jiutong antimony ingot business with an annual capacity of 4,000t.
Asian Metal: The current antimony market runs slowly, so what's your opinion on antimony market after the Spring Festival holiday?
Mr. Jiang: The current antimony market sees sluggish demand affected by rising interest rates of the Federal Reserve, our country's macro-control and currency issuance policy. However, with greater pressures from safety production and environmental protection, antimony companies witness continuously increasing production and operation costs and sharply rising labor costs. Therefore, I believe that antimony ingot prices would keep firm and it is reasonable for the price to stand at about RMB60,000/t (USD9,519/t).
Asian Metal: What do you think of the antimony market outlook in Chinese and overseas markets?
Mr. Jiang: With the transformation of industrial structure, improvement of people's living standards and upgrade of products and consumption in China, I think that the antimony market owns great potential demand and I am bullish about the future market. So does the new overseas market.
Asian Metal: As the current market competition is fierce, what's the core competitiveness of your products?
Mr. Jiang: We have our own mines with favorable ore quality, fewer impurities and high grade (the average drawn ore grade: around 8%), and we can meet self-supply of raw materials needed for smelting. Jiutong antimony ingot, as a famous-brand product in Hunan, is sold well at home and abroad and is very popular among clients all the time.
Asian Metal: Do you have the plan to expand your industrial chain in the future?
Mr. Jiang: Our company signed a project construction agreement for deep processing of antimony trioxide whose annual capacity is 10,000 tons and a series of antimony products with the People's Government of Taojiang County, and is undergoing the preparatory work, such as feasible study, EIA and so on.
Asian Metal: Insiders have paid more attention to antimony concentrate in recent years, so what are the advantages of your mines?
Mr. Jiang: Though Banxi antimony mine was exploited for more than 100 years by now, our company invested numerous funds to prospect antimony ore in deep and surrounding mining areas in recent years and obtained optimistic results. Relatively rich antimony ore reserve exists in deep mining areas. Our biggest advantage is that our antimony ore is of high grade without harmful impurities.
Asian Metal: Environmental protection arouses a heated discussion, so what's your opinion on green development?
Mr. Jiang: We invested more than RMB50 million (USD7,932,479) in batches in different periods over the past years in the upgrade of waste water, waste gas and water residue processing system. At present, our waste residue is stacked properly and waste water and gas satisfy emission standards. To construct an environmentally friendly mine is our persistent pursuit.
Asian Metal: What's the development direction of your company in the future?
Mr. Jiang: To build Jiutong into a first-class, modern and green mining enterprise is our vision and to construct a new Jiutong with beautiful environment, new mechanism and rich employees is our goal.
