PbZn 2020: 9th International Symposium on
Lead and Zinc Processing: Plenary Presentations
Lead and Zinc Future Outlook
EPD Distinguished Lecture: “Around the Lead and Zinc Metallurgical World
in Eighty Days” A Virtual Tour of World Lead and Zinc Operations and
Technologies
Phillip Mackey, P.J. Mackey Technology Inc.
Lead mining and smelting dates back to antiquity, while zinc as an alloying element
with copper as brass has a similarly very long history. Today, lead and zinc are
produced in large or small tonnages in almost all countries of the world, and lead is
the most recycled metal with one of the highest recycling rates of any material. The
scale of lead and zinc operations and the type of technologies employed vary
widely around the world. The present paper takes the reader on a virtual tour of the
major lead and zinc plants throughout the world with a focus on metallurgical
facilities. Operations and technology employed at each plant visited are discussed
including a brief historical sketch. Future technology trends identified during the
world tour are also discussed. The present author needed sufficient time for a
thorough study tour and settled on eighty days—the same as that for the celebrated
fictional story of world circumnavigation in the 1870s—a time when world lead
production far exceeded that of other non-ferrous metals.
Evolution of Global Secondary Lead Production
Huw Roberts, CHR Metals Limited
Secondary lead is recovered from scrapped lead–acid batteries, old lead-sheathed
cables and sheets, and a variety of industrial and metallurgical wastes. A significant
share of lead output from secondary sources derives from smelters that also treat
lead concentrates, so-called primary smelters, which makes the task of estimating
the overall scale of secondary lead production more difficult. Estimating the total
volume of lead produced from recycling of scrapped batteries is further complicated
by the fact that some of this activity still occurs in the informal sector in a number
of countries. CHR Metals calculates that secondary lead production accounted for
xxi
Lead and Zinc Processing: Plenary Presentations
Lead and Zinc Future Outlook
EPD Distinguished Lecture: “Around the Lead and Zinc Metallurgical World
in Eighty Days” A Virtual Tour of World Lead and Zinc Operations and
Technologies
Phillip Mackey, P.J. Mackey Technology Inc.
Lead mining and smelting dates back to antiquity, while zinc as an alloying element
with copper as brass has a similarly very long history. Today, lead and zinc are
produced in large or small tonnages in almost all countries of the world, and lead is
the most recycled metal with one of the highest recycling rates of any material. The
scale of lead and zinc operations and the type of technologies employed vary
widely around the world. The present paper takes the reader on a virtual tour of the
major lead and zinc plants throughout the world with a focus on metallurgical
facilities. Operations and technology employed at each plant visited are discussed
including a brief historical sketch. Future technology trends identified during the
world tour are also discussed. The present author needed sufficient time for a
thorough study tour and settled on eighty days—the same as that for the celebrated
fictional story of world circumnavigation in the 1870s—a time when world lead
production far exceeded that of other non-ferrous metals.
Evolution of Global Secondary Lead Production
Huw Roberts, CHR Metals Limited
Secondary lead is recovered from scrapped lead–acid batteries, old lead-sheathed
cables and sheets, and a variety of industrial and metallurgical wastes. A significant
share of lead output from secondary sources derives from smelters that also treat
lead concentrates, so-called primary smelters, which makes the task of estimating
the overall scale of secondary lead production more difficult. Estimating the total
volume of lead produced from recycling of scrapped batteries is further complicated
by the fact that some of this activity still occurs in the informal sector in a number
of countries. CHR Metals calculates that secondary lead production accounted for
xxi