Element may be Athenian in any case (8)

I believe the answer is:

antimony

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'element' is the definition.
(I know that antimony is a type of metalloid)

'be athenian in any case' is the wordplay.
'be' becomes 'n' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'athenian' becomes 'timon' (as in Shakespeare's Timon of Athens).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'case' means to remove the middle letters.
'any' with its centre taken out is 'ay'.
'n'+'timon'='ntimon'
'ntimon' inserted within 'ay' is 'ANTIMONY'.

'may' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for antimony that I've seen before include "Semimetallic element" , "Brittle element" , "My nation (anag) - metallic element" , "Toxic metallic element used in semiconductors" , "One element" .)

I've seen this clue in The Globe and Mail.

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