Lead and Zinc

Threats and Opportunities in the Years Ahead

Nnamdi Anyadike

• Publisher: Woodhead Publishing
• Year: 2002
• Print ISBN:
  9781855735934
• eBook ISBN:
  9781855738737
• Topic: Economics
• Subtopic: Business Strategy
• Index: Economics

This report provides a detailed overview of the market position and outlook in these two closely related metals, looking at supply and demand trends in each individually and addressing key issues for the future, including the impact of developments in the environmental arena and the recycling marketplace. - A clear and detailed analysis of the industry and its major markets - A survey of trends in mining, refining, processing, end-use and consumption - Unique industry and market forecasts

PART 1

LEAD

Outline

Chapter 1: Key issues: an overview

Chapter 2: Supply

Chapter 3: Demand

Chapter 4: Lead and the environment

1

Key issues: an overview

Publisher Summary

This chapter illustrates that lead has been worked since ancient times and its anti-corrosion properties made it a favorite metal for use in water pipes in the Roman Empire. It is currently used in electric storage batteries, in building, as a petrol additive, in chemicals, pigments, crystal glass, cable sheathing, and in certain alloys. The greatest threat to the lead industry is the prospect of ever-tighter environmental controls. It would inevitably result in the move toward cleaner techniques, such as hydrometallurgical processes, for the treatment of both primary and secondary sources of lead. However, in order for these techniques to become a reality, costs would need to be reduced if they are to compete with the pyrometallurgical process. The end-use trend toward the automobile battery can be expected to continue as some of lead’s traditional markets are lost under the onslaught of environmental legislation and consumer group lobbying. The ratio of recycled to primary lead would continue to move in favor of recycling. It would put a premium on scrap and scrap prices should trend higher in the future.

INTRODUCTION

Lead has been worked since ancient times, and its anti-corrosion properties made it a favourite metal (the word ‘plumbing’ is derived from ‘plumbum’, the Latin for lead) for use in water pipes in the Roman Empire. It is currently used in electric storage batteries, in building, as a petrol additive, in chemicals, pigments, crystal glass, cable sheathing and in certain alloys (see Fig. 1.1). But it is overwhelmingly used today in the automobile sector in the form of the starter lighting ignition (SLI) battery. For the rest of its applications, it has come under attack from Western environmental lobbyists who have driven through some stringent ‘anti-lead’ legislation. Yet the lead industry is far from pessimistic about its prospects, and paints a bright future for the metal. Demand for lead for SLI batteries is rising along with the growth in new car demand in Eastern Europe, China, the rest of the Far East and Latin America, while in the developed world the demand for replacement SLI batteries is a constant and growing feature. Over 80% of all the lead now used in the USA is for the production of lead–acid batteries.

Figure 1.1 Lead: end-uses. (source: ILZSG)

For all the bad press that it has received, lead remains one of the most commonly used, though least seen, metals in use today. Consumers of a wide range of goods are generally unaware of its presence since lead components are normally hidden from view, i.e. under the bonnet of a car or buried in a television set. Lead is used and recycled in dozens of important consumer, industrial and defence applications, including batteries for automobiles, industrial lift trucks and other equipment, X-ray and radiation shielding, waterproofing materials, noise and vibration barriers, optics, electronics and computers, sports equipment and many more. About 95% of the lead in spent batteries is recycled and used in new products. Lead has been used as a protective barrier against radon exposure in homes, and lead batteries will play an important role in the development and use of the new-generation electric vehicles (EVs).

In the medical arena, lead is essential to the production of many highly technical products, from foetal monitors to fibre optics. Because of its high density, capability and availability, lead is the preferred material for radiation shielding. Major progress in the medical field’s use of radiation for imaging diagnostics such as CAT scans can be directly attributed to the use of sophisticated lead shielding to protect patients, healthcare professionals and the public. Lead solders and leaded glass are used in the production of computer monitors, while lead-alloy solders enable computers to send electronic data. Lead-based materials are facilitating the development of hyper-fast computers and high-definition TV, as well as cathode ray tubes used in viewing screens for television, computers and radar.

Lead also plays a vital role in space exploration, energy conservation and telecommunications. NASA’s Space Shuttle uses lead-alloy solder as it has found that no other means of connecting transistors, relays and other electronic components is as reliable. Lead glazes are used to encapsulate and protect the latest generation of electronic microcircuits from atmospheric corrosion. In the art world, china glazed with lead is widely used, and the best stemware is made from lead crystal. Throughout the ages, stained glass pieces such as cathedral windows have been held together by malleable lead cames, which can be relied on to endure for centuries. Many of the glass colours themselves are created with lead.

A HISTORY OF THE METAL

Lead is one of the first metals to have been used by humans, with uses dating back to 6500 BC. Ancient lead pipes have been discovered in Egypt from the time of the Pharaohs, who also put lead into the glazes on their pottery. Lead pipes were also widely used in ancient Rome. But lead has toxic properties. It destroys nerves, a process that is not usually reversible in humans. Several Roman emperors reportedly exhibited evidence of brain damage, possibly from drinking wine, an acidic beverage, from lead cups. The potential for lead poisoning was also enhanced by the use of lead acetate to sweeten the wine. From the Middle Ages, lead shot became widely used by armies throughout Europe, and in the US vast quantities of lead ammunition were used in the American Civil War. In the US, lead-zinc ores are largely found in the Missouri, Iowa and Wisconsin ‘Mississippi Valley’ in fractures in limestone and dolomite beds. Native Americans were mining lead in this area when the first Europeans made their forays down the Mississippi River. The invention of lead-alloy solder greatly expanded the use of lead, which has continued into the 21st century.

Lead has also played an important historical role in the development of pigments. Since the dawn of civilisation humans have adorned their bodies, walls and clothing. Certain aboriginal peoples still use mixtures of powdered rock, clay and grease to paint their faces, lips and bodies in preparation for rites associated with courtship and other important social and religious ceremonies. Human remains at archaeological sites are sometimes found covered with cinnabar (mercuric sulphide, HgS) or haematite (an iron oxide, Fe₂O₃), applied as part of burial rituals. Shades of earthy red, brown and yellow are derived from iron oxides. These are very stable compounds because they are already oxides, and oxidation is one of the more common ways in which chemicals are modified in our oxygen-rich atmosphere. Greens and blues might be derived from copper compounds, blues from cobalt, black from graphite, and yellows from cadmium. For white colouring, lead in the form of lead oxide (PbO) has been used until recently.

LEAD AND ITS PROPERTIES

Lead is unique among common metals. It has little mechanical strength, virtually no elasticity and is extremely soft. According to the Lead Development Association (LDA)’s Web site, most of its properties are so sensitive to conditions of testing and to minute changes in chemical composition th...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Executive summary
• PART 1: LEAD
• PART 2: ZINC