What Antimony Mining CEOs Should Know About Cyber Risk

Antimony is no longer just a commodity as it has become a strategic mineral tied to defense supply chains, energy security, and geopolitical competition. As the importance of antimony becomes apparent, so does the likelihood that mining companies become targets for cyber threats.

Executives can sometimes focus on IT and put cybersecurity into the IT bucket and then forget about it. Cyber risk is risk management, business continuity, operational resilience, and a governance issue. The question is not whether your company has security controls, it is whether your organization can continue operating when those controls fail.

1. Understand the Threat Landscape

Every mining company should maintain awareness of the evolving threat landscape as geopolitics are continuing to evolve and change.

Threat actors may include:

• Nation-state actors interested in strategic mineral supply chains

• Cybercriminal groups seeking financial gain through ransomware

• Hacktivists targeting environmental or political issues

• Insiders and contractors with privileged access

• Competitors or intelligence collectors seeking proprietary information

Executives do not need to become intelligence analysts, but they should ensure someone in the organization is monitoring geopolitical developments and relevant threat intelligence and keeping them up to date. If antimony is becoming strategically important, assume your organization is becoming strategically interesting.

2. Focus on Operational Technology (OT), Not Just IT

Many mining organizations have improved traditional IT security while overlooking Operational Technology (OT).

OT can include: processing plants, industrial control systems, remote monitoring systems, and operational networks and can often present greater business risk than office systems. To be more specific, think about autonomous mine trucks, gar and fire detection systems, as well as the telemetry that is sent back for reporting.

Ask the following questions:

• Do we have a complete inventory of OT assets?

• Can we identify which systems are critical to production?

• Are OT networks segmented from corporate IT networks?

• What happens if a critical control system becomes unavailable?

A cyber incident affecting production systems can halt operations, create safety concerns, and disrupt supply commitments long before it becomes a data breach issue.

3. Every New OT Project Should Include Cybersecurity Planning

Mining organizations frequently add new sensors, remote monitoring systems, automation technologies, and connected equipment. Are these updates getting reviewed and is there a change management process in place?

Every OT deployment should have a cybersecurity workstream that addresses:

• Network architecture

• Vendor access requirements

• Remote connectivity controls

• Security testing before production deployment

• Incident response ownership

Cybersecurity should not be reviewed after implementation, and it should be part of project planning from day one.

4. How Well Do You Know Your Vendors

Many organizations focus heavily on internal controls while overlooking third-party risk. Third-party risk should include reviews prior to onboarding around, suppliers, contractors, managed service providers, equipment vendors, and software providers. It can be easy to overlook access creep into critical environments.

Recent industry research shows third-party involvement in cyber incidents continues to rise, making supply chain security a board-level concern.

Key questions to ask should include:

• How many vendors are in scope and is there an inventory list?

• Which vendors have access to critical systems? (Make a list of high, medium, and low risk vendors to prioritize efforts.)

• How often are vendor security reviews conducted?

• Are incident notification requirements included in contracts?

• Do vendors have defined security and resilience standards?

• Are vendors clear on the escalation path if there is an incident?

If a supplier experiences a cyber incident, your organization should know who to call and what actions will be taken within the first hour.

5. Build an Incident Management Plan and Practice the Plan

The worst time to develop an incident response plan is during an incident.

Every mining company should establish:

• Escalation paths

• Executive decision authorities

• External communication procedures

• Regulatory notification requirements

• Recovery priorities

Most importantly, the plan should be tested, conduct tabletop exercises routinely and if any material changes are made to the plan.

6. Run Tabletop Exercises

Tabletop exercises are one of the most effective ways to evaluate readiness.

Changing the scenarios will help keep employees and vendors aware of possible risks. A scenario might include:

“A ransomware attack impacts the processing plant network and key vendor systems.”

The exercise should involve:

• Executive leadership

• Operations

• IT and OT teams

• Legal counsel

• Communications personnel

• Critical vendors

The objective is not to achieve a perfect outcome but to identify gaps before a real adversary does and be comfortable with the steps required to contain and remediate quickly.

7. Name and Quantify Your Risks

Boards cannot govern risks they do not understand, and they shouldn’t spend time on low likelihood or low impact risks. A prioritization plan should include risks that are qualitative or quantifiable impactful.

Organizations should identify and prioritize risks such as:

• Production disruption

• Safety impacts

• Supply chain dependency

• Vendor concentration risk

• Data loss

• Regulatory consequences

• Reputational damage

Once identified, these risks should be assigned to risk as well as controls owners, mitigation plans, and measurable performance indicators.

Cybersecurity Is a Governance Issue

For antimony mining companies, cyber risk is no longer solely an IT concern and it is an operational, strategic, and governance issue.

The companies that will be most resilient are not necessarily those with the largest cybersecurity budgets. They are the companies that understand their risks, know their dependencies, rehearse their response plans, and treat cybersecurity as a core component of operational resilience.

In a world where strategic minerals are increasingly tied to national security, resilience may become as important as production.

Sturnella advises defense contractors, mining, energy, and critical infrastructure companies on CMMC readiness, SEC cybersecurity disclosure, and board-level cyber governance.

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Disclaimer: This article appeared on the Sturnella website at sturnellahq.com and is provided for informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment advice, financial advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any security or financial instrument. The information contained herein is based on publicly available sources and is believed to be accurate at the time of publication but is not guaranteed. Sturnella LLC is a capital markets cybersecurity and governance advisory firm and is not a registered investment adviser, broker-dealer, or financial institution. Always consult a qualified financial, legal, or investment professional before making any investment decision.

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