Continue to lead the development of world antimony industry, Hsikwangshan Twinkling Star says

Asian Metal: Thank you for taking our interview! Would you please give a brief introduction to the main business, production and operation of your company at first?

Mr. Liu: Hsikwangshan Twinkling Star Co., Ltd. started mining officially from 1897 and is a large Chinese non-ferrous metal enterprise which mainly engages in the mining, separation, smelting and R&D of antimony, as well as the world’s largest producer and supplier of antimony products. Our company can mine 600,000t of antimony annually with an annual capacity of 20,000t of antimony ingot and 40,000t of antimony trioxide. Our company’s Twinkling Star brand products mainly include antimony ingot, antimony trioxide, antimony sulfide and antimony pentoxide, etc. Our products are exported to more than 50 countries and regions such as the USA, Japan, Canada, etc., and have been widely recognized in the industry owing to the wide products variety, excellent product quality and stable supply.

With a fast-developing society and people’s higher requirement for occupational health, our next step is to focus on the application of high-purity and environment-friendly antimony oxide products as well as advancing the dust-free production of antimony oxide. Currently, our company has launched more than 10 types of environment-friendly antimony products on the market which are favored by customers worldwide. This, in turn, shores up our confidence to promote the green development of antimony products in the future.

Asian Metal: As a major supplier of antimony products in the world, Hsikwangshan has received widespread attention in terms of its development and operation. Would you please give a brief introduction to the main reforms made by Hsikwangshan recently?

Mr. Liu: In recent years, Hsikwangshan, with a mining history of 120 years, has been in a dilemma in terms of the production and operation affected by factors like market economy situation and institutional barriers to traditional state-owned enterprises.

In face of the grim economic situation, in May 2016, Hsikwangshan aimed to establish the modern enterprise system with Chinese characteristics and determined the reform thinking which focuses on core business, separation of auxiliary business, assets-stimulating and innovation mechanism, taking the lead in deepening the reform among subsidiaries of Minmetals Non-ferrous Metals. The reform mainly includes advancing reform of three systems to stimulate inner vitality; optimizing industrial structure by eliminating inefficient and invalid assets; reorganizing antimony section by separating core and auxiliary businesses; revitalizing stock assets; separation of social functions from enterprise.

Asian Metal: What are the achievements made so far during the reform?

Mr. Liu: Through one year’s effort, we have basically completed the main work of deepening reform with partial results obtained. The reform of three systems has seen remarkable achievements: a total of 5 secondary institutions were simplified; 35 middle-level administrative staff and 2,868 redundant staff were rearranged of their job position, accounting for 44% of workforce, with labor productivity increasing effectively. The improvement of quality and effectiveness has also seen significant results: production costs for antimony concentrate per ton of two mines, comprehensive processing costs for antimony smelting and refining all declined sharply year on year. The competitiveness of auxiliary business was enhanced significantly: assets unit like staff hospital gradually began to generate profit and supporting service enterprises such as construction material factory gradually turned losses into gains. Our main profitability continues to grow and the loss has been reversed as we began to see profit from the first quarter this year and we expect to fully fulfill the profit target required by higher authorities within this year.

Asian Metal: We recently learned that Hsikwangshan had initiated the pilot production of antimony concentrate by using oxygen-enriched side-blow bath smelting (OSBS) technology. Could you please briefly introduce the advantages and outlook of this technology?

Mr. Liu: This technology is of high smelting efficiency, low energy consumption and strong degree of feedstock flexibility with remarkable environmental protection advantages. The sulfur-containing gas generated from the smelting process can be directly used for producing acid and hence reduce pollution caused by low concentration of SO2 gas. The recycling rate of valuable metals is high with strong feasibility of comprehensive utilization of resources. Our technological equipment is of high degree of automatization, which effectively intensified the smelting process of antimony concentrate. Compared with the blast furnace oxygen-rich volatilization smelting technology, OSBS technology is of 50% less in terms of coal consumption, with a stronger production capacity and better operating conditions, and is capable of automatic control of manufacturing process with recycling rate up by over 10%. We have finished the 13th pilot test with positive progress achieved but we are still a long way from industrialized production.

Asian Metal: Enterprises’ innovative development is motivated by R&D of new products and extension of industrial chain. Could you tell us about the work made and Hsikwangshan’s plan for improvement of added value of products in deep processing industry?

Mr. Liu: Hsikwangshan has always been committed to technical innovation and R&D for new products. We successfully developed the combined blown smelting process for producing antimony trioxide in 1957, filling a domestic gap in this field. In 2003, we successfully developed the top-blown method with complete intellectual property rights. After that, we built the world’s largest antimony deep processing plant. Currently, Hsikwangshan has been producing a series of deep processing antimony products including antimony trioxide, ethylene glycol antimony, dust-free antimony oxide, catalyst antimony trioxide, etc. Our next step is to focus on R&D for deep processing antimony products including nanoscale antimony oxide and high concentration antimony oxide master batch, etc., further promoting the upgrading of antimony products.

Asian Metal: Environmental production has been the hot issue in recent years. What is Hsikwangshan’s understanding of green development? What actions will it take to cope with the issue?

Mr. Liu: To develop a harmonious and friendly relationship between production and ecological environment has always been the goal pursued by Hsikwangshan. Over the past few years, we have responded actively to China’s Five Development Concept and insisted on green development by carrying out concept renovation, technology improvement and upgrading, etc., having put investment of nearly RMB300 million.

Firstly, we strengthened governance of the three wastes (waste gas; waste water; industrial residue). Our mines adopted the tailings filling system and 60% of tailings are directly used for underground filling. Since 2011, Hsikwangshan has been in charge of projects of comprehensive recovery and utilization of arsenic residue, and the production lines with capacity of 5,000tpy have been built, providing solutions for disposal of arsenic and alkali residue from antimony smelting. In addition, we have started to build waste water disposal stations with capacity of 600tpd and 1,200tpd respectively since 2013, in order to achieve recycling of wastewater and zero emission; we also built two mines which adopted waste water treatment systems with capacity of 10,000tpd and 2,000tpd respectively. As for the control and treatment of sulfur-containing waste gas pollution, Hsikwangshan has always been committed to technology upgrading and has had a gas disposal capacity of 10,000m3/h so far, meeting emission standard of tin, antimony and mercury industrial pollutants. Secondly, we intensify efforts to carry out afforestation and restore the ecosystem with the help from local governments. In 2014, Hsikwangshan was listed as the pilot unit of National Green Mines by China’s Ministry of Land and Resources.

Asian Metal: As a leading company in antimony industry, could you please give an introduction to Hsikwangshan’s future development direction?

Mr. Liu: Hsikwangshan is looking to a new journey and new mission. We will be resolute in responding the call of returning to business nature and increasing effectiveness, and at the same time carrying forward the fine style of work. What’s more, we will insist on deepening reform, strengthening core business, integrating resources, focusing on research and development of science and technology, creating new platform for antimony business as well as increasing investment in safety and environmental protection. We firmly believe that Hsikwangshan will continue to act as a frontrunner in antimony industry with the new gesture of superior asset quality, optimized structure, scientific management and efficient operation.

Asian Metal: Thank you for taking our interview, and we wish Hsikwangshan a prosperous future!