Production, refined lead

The most important ores are bismuthinite or bismuth glance and bismite. Peru, Japan, Mexico, Bolivia, and Canada are major bismuth producers. Much of the bismuth produced in the U.S. is obtained as a by-product in refining lead, copper, tin, silver, and gold ores. 

A world production summary of primary and refined lead is given in Table 5. U.S. consumption for the same period is given in Table 6. 

Table 5. World Mine and Refined Lead Production, 1(P t...

A conservative estimate of the total value of the products from the mineral industry is ca 3.9 trillion ia terms of 1992 dollars (4). This estimate does not include the value of products derived from secondary sources such as recycling (qv) or reclamation. Secondary recovery is significant for certain commodities. For example, in 1992 ca 30% of the world steel (qv) production, 46% of the world refined lead output, 15% of the world refined copper (qv) production, and ca 30% of the aluminum (see Aluminumand ALUMINUM alloys) output from the Western world were clearly identified as being derived from scrap. The value of the world mineral commodity export trade in 1992 was ca 616,698 million ia 1992 dollars. This accounted for ca 18% of all commodities exported (4). 

Sodium nitrate is also used in formulations of heat-transfer salts for he at-treatment baths for alloys and metals, mbber vulcanization, and petrochemical industries. A mixture of sodium nitrate and potassium nitrate is used to capture solar energy (qv) to transform it into electrical energy. The potential of sodium nitrate in the field of solar salts depends on the commercial development of this process. Other uses of sodium nitrate include water (qv) treatment, ice melting, adhesives (qv), cleaning compounds, pyrotechnics, curing bacons and meats (see Food additives), organics nitration, certain types of pharmaceutical production, refining of some alloys, recovery of lead, and production of uranium. 

Trade association of manufacturers of lead products and lead components mining companies, smelters and refiners of lead. Provides lead information to consumer s and is a clearinghouse for lead recycling information. 

The U.S. is the world s largest recycler of lead scrap and is able to meet about 72% of its total refined lead production needs from scrap recycling. The secondary lead industry consists of 16 companies that operate 23 battery breakers-smelters with capacities of between 10,000 and 120,000 t/yr five smaller operations with capacities between 6000 and 10,000 t/yr and 15 smaller plants that produce mainly specialty alloys for solders, brass and bronze ingots, and miscellaneous uses. 

It is advisable, then, in a tiered approach to concentrate first on crops and activities (scenarios) that are considered to be relevant with respect to the expected level of exposure and to exclude those not relevant. Second, whether or not the toxicological properties of the product may lead to general restrictions on re-entry should be investigated. If both the likelihood of reentry and the hazard due to the toxicity of the compound cannot generally be neglected, a risk assessment over several steps should be carried out. The assessment may be based on surrogate data and "worst-case" assumptions at first and then refined, if necessary. One possible approach to a tiered evaluation procedure is presented in Figure 1. 

As of 2008, the largest producers of bismuth in the world were China, Mexico, Peru, and Canada. Bismuth is produced in the United States as a by-product of lead refining. 

Primary and secondary sources of lead exist in the United States and throughout the world [29], U.S. mine production of lead in concentrate is approximately 450,000-500,000 metric tons per year, which represents approximately 15% of the world production. Other countries with significant mine production of lead include Australia, Canada, China, Mexico, and Peru. Refining of secondary lead is dominated by the U.S. production, although other major sources include Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Peru, Spain, and the United Kingdom. In the United States, approximately 79% of the current lead refinery production is derived from secondary sources. Worldwide, secondary sources... 

Modern industry practice can be extremely effective in limiting lead emissions from recycling facilities. Facility emissions have been a cause of historic concern, with speculation that increased use of lead-acid batteries in electric and/or hybrid electric vehicles might result in unacceptable levels of lead contamination. For example. Lave et al. [23] estimated that emissions to water and air associated with primary lead production, secondary lead production, and battery prodnction were 4, 2, and 1%, respectively, of the total amount of lead processed. In contrast, Socolow and Thomas [24] estimated that secondary smelting and refining were associated with system losses of up to only 0.01% of material processed. 

Year Production of Refined Lead Consumption of Refined Lead Consumption of Lead for Accumulators... 

China s entry into the world of lead and zinc could not have been more different from the circumstances in the other countries in the former Eastern Bloc. Prior to the mid-1980s China s refined lead production was no more than 225 kt/a and zinc output was around 300 kt/a. From the mid-1980s, however, there was, a sharp increase in mine production of both metals that, initially, was much greater than the rise in refined output. The development of new mines was the direct result of official policy to promote the domestic lead and zinc industries to... 

Close to 85% of all products using lead metal are recyclable. One direct consequence is the continuously rising recycling rate of lead-bearing scrap. In 1999, refined lead recovered fijom secondary materials totaled 2.9 million tonnes, equivalent to 47.2% of total production worldwide or 58.9% in the Western World (4). Total refined lead metal supply rose in 1999 to 6.143 million tonnes. Of this, 4.93 milUon tonnes were produced in Ae Western World. Considering that the bulk of the lead from secondary materials is still recovered in the Western World, approximately 2.2 million tonnes of lead from primary sources was produced in the Western World. As shown in Table II, significant increases in production were noted at Pasminco s Port Pirie operation, in Kazakhstan as a result of increased output of the Ust-Kamenogorsk smelter and fix>m China. 

Lead bullion is clectrorcfined to produce refined lead and slimes. The slimes arc treated in the silver refinery where a series of furnaces process the slimes to produce dore metal and bismuth, as well as various slags and baghouse dusts that contain antimony and arsenic. Some of the baghouse dust is directed to the copper products plant and the lead alloys plant to recover antimony and arsenic values, and the remainder of the baghouse dust and the slags are recycled to the smelter. Done metal is electrorefined to produce pure silver and gold bullion. 

The end products are refined lead, lead alloys, refined silver and dore bullion. Refined lead of >99.99% purity is produced fi-om the Mt. Isa refinery and 99.985% and 99.97% purity grades are moulded in the BRM refinery. A wide range of lead alloys is produced, particularly for the battery, lead sheet and cable industries. With the progressive increase in the silver and... 

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