Lead

Lead is used in building construction, lead-acid batteriesbullets and shot, weights, as part of solderspewtersfusible alloys, and as a radiation shield.


Galena - PbS
Source: dritz.altervista.org 

Lead market basics

Lead price: 12 months
Lead charts on InfoMine.com
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Links to lead supply and demand

China is the world's largest producer.Mining companies produce about 3,5 million tons of lead a year compared with global consumption of 8 million tons, with the balance coming from recycling, according to Gerard Burg, a mineral economist at National Australia Bank Ltd., in Melbourne.
Macquarie Bank Ltd., Australia's biggest investment bank, more than doubled its forecast for the world's lead deficit in 2007 after Ivernia Inc halted exports from a mine accounting for about 3 percent of global production. Lead output will lag behind demand by 74,000 tons in 2007, compared with an earlier estimate of 33,000 tons, Macquarie analysts led by Jim Lennon and Adam Rowley said. There was a surplus of 2,000 tons in 2006, according to the bank. 
 
RankCountryWorld Mine Production Of Lead In Concentrate, By Country (Metric tons, lead content) in 2007
1China1,410,0001410000
2Australia641,000641000
3United States444,000444000
4Peru329,154329154
5Mexico120,000120000
6India77,50077500
7Canada75,13575135
8Sweden62,10062100
9Poland59,90059900
10Ireland54,10054100
11Russian Federation50,00050000
12Morocco44,80044800
13South Africa41,85741857
14Kazakhstan40,20040200
15Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic Of32,00032000
16Iran, Islamic Republic Of25,00025000
17Brazil24,57424574
18Bolivia22,79822798
19Turkey20,00020000
20Viet Nam19,20019200
21Argentina17,04517045
22Bulgaria15,00015000
23Greece15,00015000
24Korea, Democratic People's Republic Of13,00013000
25Namibia10,54310543
26Honduras10,21510215
27Algeria5,0005000
28Bosnia and Herzegovina4,0004000
29Myanmar2,0002000
30Chile1,3051305
31Romania1,0001000
32Serbia1,0001000
33Tajikistan800800
34Italy800800
35United Kingdom500500
36Georgia400400
37Guatemala363363
38Korea, Republic Of1212
Year of Estimate: 2007

Links to companies producing lead

BHP Billiton Ltd and Doe Run Resources Corporation were the world's largest and second-largest lead producers in 2005, followed by Glencore plc, according to information compiled by BHP and the British Geological Survey.


The Cerro de Pasco lead-zinc mine, Peru
Source: http://www.treehugger.com/