Europe lead mines

The natural ore is quarried or mined in many areas of North America and Europe. Leading North American regions include Canada, Mexico, and in the United States, California, Texas, Nevada, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan. In Europe, France, Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Russia have significant deposits of natural gypsum, as does Germany. 

For the noble metals used in oxidation, the loading is about 0.1 oz per car, with calls for a million ounces per year. The current world production rates of platinum, palladium, and rhodium are 1.9, 1.6, and 0.076 million ounces respectively the current U,S. demand for platinum, palladium, rhodium, and ruthenium are 0.52, 0.72, 0.045, and 0.017 million ounces respectively (72, 73). The supply problem would double if NO reduction requires an equal amount of noble metal. Pollution conscious Japan has adopted a set of automobile emission rules that are the same as the U.S., and Western Europe may follow this creates a demand for new car catalysts approaching the U.S. total. The bulk of world production and potential new mines are in the Soviet Union and South Africa. The importation of these metals, assuming the current price of platinum at 155/oz and palladium at 78/oz, would pose a balance of payment problem. The recovery of platinum contained in spent catalysts delivered to the door of precious metal refiners should be above 95% the value of platinum in spent catalysts is greater than the value of lead in old batteries, and should provide a sufficient incentive for scavengers. 

Here is a typical example of a relevant problem an ancient Sardinian hillside mine. The island of Sardinia has been mined for silver, zinc, copper, and lead since Phoenician and Roman times and, until the 1970s, was the largest source of heavy metals in Europe. It has left a legacy of pollution problems associated with mine drainage, carrying pollutants from hillside mines down to valleys below. This is a situation that could well be applicable to treatment by an electrokinetic barrier. The application is as shown in Figure 16.1. 

Reeves RD, Brooks RR. (1983). Hyperaccumulation of lead and zinc by two metallophytes from a mining area of Central Europe. Environmental Pollution Series A, iXim-TlS. 

While talc is a relatively common mineral, deposits of high purity are rare. Commercial deposits are found in western USA, Finland, China, India and Western Europe. Talc is the softest mineral, exhibiting a hardness factor of 1 on the Moh s scale, and delivers a smooth tactile characteristic to the final sheet when used at the appropriate level. However, in China and India, local mining methods may lead to a high content of abrasive contaminants which may negatively impact wire life on a paper machine. 

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