Last Lead Smelter in USA is closing after 120 years

[frugi]

This is a loss of jobs for Missouri, and a loss of valuable resources for the USA. You can expect our lead to now come from China, and be of an inferior quality like everything else coming from China. I wouldnt be surprised to hear the EPA, and the current administration in the white house banning lead imports from China = gun control.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________


http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2013/10/20/remaining-lead-smelter-usa-closing/

Suddenly the US Army’s obsession with lead-free ammunition makes perfect sense, it was about security not the environment. A reader writes …
The last remaining lead smelter, in Herculaneum MO, is closing down. This will undoubtedly affect the price of lead, since the lead that is mined in Viburnum MO will now be sent out of the US for smelting. Missouri’s Lead Belt has been the primary source of lead for the US since 1700. A lead smelter has been in operation in Herculaneum since 1892. This is why Lake City, Federal, and other ammunition companies have been located in the region. The recent articles on shot towers don’t really apply to the ammunition industry that existed on the bluffs of the Mississippi river, since no tower was needed. The top of the ‘shot tower’ was simply an overhang by the river.

The EPA’s new clean air rules would require a $100 million dollar investment in new equipment. As such, the Doe Run Company has decided to close the site.

According to STL Today reports that the 145 jobs will be lost and the company will terminate 73 contractors. My understanding is that most, if not all, mines that produce lead ore in the USA also produce a number of other minerals, so this does not necessarily mean job losses in the mining sector.

With the USA no longer producing lead, almost all of the worlds lead will come from China, Australia and Peru.

Worldwide Lead Production (Truncated) (2007)
Steve Johnson
Founder and Dictator-In-Chief of TFB. A passionate gun owner, a shooting enthusiast and totally tacti-uncool.

[AGgressive Metal]

Pretty scary...

EPA is out of control...

[knibloe]

I agree that the EPA is out of control.

I also believe that if the factory posed such a environmental risk that it needs updates, this would have been tax money well spent from a national security standpoint. We cannot afford to lose production of strategic metals to the chinese.

[AGgressive Metal]

I just thought of this: isn't jet fuel still leaded unlike commercial gasoline? Does this mean our military will have to rely on foreign suppliers for the lead component in aircraft fuel?

[fasteddy]

I just thought of this: isn't jet fuel still leaded unlike commercial gasoline? Does this mean our military will have to rely on foreign suppliers for the lead component in aircraft fuel?

your thinking aviation gasoline which I do not know if it is leaded. Jet fuel is kerosene. No lead there. I suspect this article....I am running our big truck up there next week to deliver a load of product to Doe Run...Maybe I should send it COD. Google Doe Run....

[frugi]

I just thought of this: isn't jet fuel still leaded unlike commercial gasoline? Does this mean our military will have to rely on foreign suppliers for the lead component in aircraft fuel?

your thinking aviation gasoline which I do not know if it is leaded. Jet fuel is kerosene. No lead there. I suspect this article....I am running our big truck up there next week to deliver a load of product to Doe Run...Maybe I should send it COD. Google Doe Run....

http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/item/16881-epa-closure-of-last-lead-smelting-plant-to-impact-ammunition-production

Looks like they have known for some time......here is an article dated 2010 from St. Louis Post Dispatch aka St. Louis Post Distrash.............. http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/article_54400025-2940-5b3f-b753-6e931e596cac.html

[frugi]

so, apparently they knew in 2010 they were going to close. They said the old factory had outdated technology. They were going to build a new refinery using a safer, cleaner process to separate lead from lead ore using a water process. The new factory was going to be built in the same area. But, now they have pulled the plug on that, citing it was too financially risky....I bet that is not the whole truth, I bet it has something to do with ____________..........

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/doe-run-co-won-t-build-new-lead-processing-plant/article_6888abe5-f70c-54a5-8843-912c49dd4d77.html

[knibloe]

They probably put off the closing until after the last election hoping for some change in Washington.

[Recyclersteve]

Someone else correct me if I am wrong, but I thought I saw something recently that said our govt. is looking to replace lead bullets with copper bullets. It would make sense if a big lead mine is shutting down. I'm not sure about the difference in being shot with one vs. the other. Any comments?

[NotABigDeal]

Someone else correct me if I am wrong, but I thought I saw something recently that said our govt. is looking to replace lead bullets with copper bullets. It would make sense if a big lead mine is shutting down. I'm not sure about the difference in being shot with one vs. the other. Any comments?

The M855A1 is the new military round. Mixed reviews.

Deal