Handling problems of cadmium curing agents are minimized by adding to a nitrile rubber latex an antioxidant in the form of a soluble alkali metal salt to form a modified latex and then coagulating the modified latex with a cadmium salt to form nitrile rubber containing bound antioxidant in the form of a cadmium compound. Alternately, a concentrate containing a large proportion of the antioxidant in the form of a cadmium compound is prepared which can be subsequently added to a nitrile latex to provide the cadmate cure function.