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How does electrolysis help produce antimony from stibnite ore?

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In the production of antimony, electrolysis is used as a method to recover the metal from concentrated solutions. Specifically, stibnite ore is first treated with sodium sulfide solutions, which act as leaching agents to concentrate the antimony. The resulting solutions are then subjected to electrolysis to produce the metal.1

It is important to note that while electrolysis is a key step in this specific recovery process, it can also produce an unstable, amorphous form of the element known as "explosive antimony" under certain conditions. This form is so named because it can undergo a mildly explosive transition to the more stable metallic form if it is scratched or bent.1