This is marketing research on the Lead industry and can include information on the background, market structure, definitions, competitors, trends and developments of lead and is related to other topics such as minerals, ores, metals and mining.

Table of Contents

[edit] Background

Mine production, based on the net quantity of lead recovered in the smelting of concentrate, increased about 7 percent in the late 1990's (1998) to 481 kilotons. Lead was produced at 17 mines in Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Missouri, Montana, New York, and Tennessee; 9 mines in Alaska and Missouri accounted for about 91 percent of the production. The value of the recovered lead was about $480 million, calculated on the basis of an average North American producer price of $0.4527 per pound. Subsequently, the price of lead has risen to over $1.00 per pound in late 2007.

Lead concentrate was processed at two smelter-refineries in Missouri and a smelter in Montana. Lead was consumed principally in the transportation industries, where about 72 percent was used in automotive-type starting lighting- ignition (SLI) storage batteries, fuel tanks, solder, seals, casting metals, and bearings. The use of lead in electrical, electronic, and communications applications, including industrial-type lead-acid storage batteries, and its use in ammunition, television glass, construction, radiation shielding, and protective coatings accounted for approximately 24 percent of consumption. The balance was used in ballast and weights, ceramics and crystal glass, tubes, containers, foil, and wire. The demand for lead in all forms of lead-acid storage batteries, SLItype and industrial-type, represented about 88 percent of consumption in 1998.

The demand for lead and other commodities altered significantly in the past few years. Many emerging market countries, such as China, have greatly increased the capacity of their heavy industrial production and as a result, the demand for certain commodities, including lead, has risen dramatically since the beginning of the decade. The price of lead has shot up over 100% in seven years.

[edit] Market Structure

In recent government data, the number of establishments engaged in lead and zinc mining had decreased in the period leading up to 2002. It is anticipated, however, that this number had increased by mid-decade as a result of the new increase in commodity prices indicated above. There are relatively few lead and zinc mines in the U.S.

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Employment at the nation's lead and zinc mines had dropped sharply from the 1990s. That trend continued into the new century per the government statistics earlier in the decade.

[edit] Market Metrics

Lead production in the United States, despite the increase in ore prices, has not increased sharply. The United States was the world's third largest producer of lead in 2006 at 435,000 tons and followed China and Australia. In the same year, the U.S. was the world's largest consumer - at 1.4 million tons, followed by China and Germany.

[edit] Recent Trends and Developments

Two lead-producing mines were expanded in 1998, one in Alaska and one in Idaho, and acquisition of additional mining rights was made by another Alaskan producer through a land exchange agreement with the U.S. government. In 1998 and 1999, exploration was begun at several undeveloped properties in Alaska, and efforts continued to reopen five mines: two in Utah and one each in Idaho, Nevada, and Washington.

Mine production in the United States should increase about 2 to 3 percent per year through early in the decade as a result of continued higher production at some of the larger facilities and the resumption of mining at some of the currently closed operations. Total refined lead production in the United States from primary and secondary refineries increased at an annual rate of about 2 percent through 2000.

Consumption of lead in the industrialized nations was expected to grow only marginally in 1999 but will begin to accelerate in 2000, leading to the resumption of a 2 to 3 percent yearly growth rate between 2001 and 2003. Lead-acid battery demand, dominated by automotive-type replacement batteries, will continue to drive consumption higher as it continues to increase its share of total consumption. Worldwide production of primary and secondary lead is expected to increase modestly through 1999 and 2000 despite the continuation of low lead prices. With respect to secondary production, the pool of potential lead scrap feed for secondary smelters worldwide will continue to expand in that period, probably easing some of the operating difficulties experienced by smelters in 1998 that were associated with low lead prices and the high cost and shortage of available lead scrap.

[edit] Sources

• Most current US government sources

[edit] Next Steps

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