lead industry in india

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16January 2010

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- Metalworld Research Team

Lead Industryin India

A s a heavy, malleable, bluis h g re y metal, lead is one of the mostresistant to common corrosionproblems. This is a bright luster,dense, ductile, very soft and highly

malleable bluish- white metal which can be toug hened by adding a small amount of antimony orother metals to it. It is a naturally occurring element and is usually associated with other minerals,notably zinc, silver and copper.Trace amounts of other elements,including gold, are sometimesfound with lead ore. The ore ismined, concentrated and thensmelted in a blast furnace withlimestone and coke. It is refined toremove and recover other metals.

usage continues to increase and has

risen from 4 million tons per year. Of

this, nearly 2 million tons per year is

p r o d u c e d i n A s i a . S e c o n d a r y

production or recy cling is now widely

practised and currently accounts forsome about 50 percent of usage

wor ldw ide. Lead has some impor tant

properties, in particular malleability

(i.e. it can be hammered into shape),

ease of production, ease of melting

and joining, and good corrosion

resistance. As a result, it has been

used for purposes such as roofing,

window s, piping , kitche n/tableware

and ornamental uses for many

c e n tu r ie s . T h e e l e c tro c h e m ic a l

properties of lead enable it to be used

in storage batteries in all motor

vehicles, and for some back- up powerMost v aluable commodity supplies.

Lead is one of man's most valuableC e r t a i n c o m p o u n d s o f l e a d ,

commodities in present scenario.particularly brightly coloured lead

O c c u r r i n g n a t u r a l l y i n t h eoxides, leaded glasses and leaded

environment, the metal is mined andglazes on ceramics, have been used

processed in some 60 countries. The



for millennia. T he main producers of in the manufacture of the lead- acid recy cled annually in which larg e

lead mineral are: China, A ustralia, storage battery, a vital part of ever y amount of scrap comes from the waste

USA, Peru, Canada and Mexico. These au t om ob il e an d a ls o in t he batteries. Lead is a material which is

six countries produce three quarters communications industry. Lead is still ver y easy to recy cle also can be re-

of world output. The largest exporters used ex tens ive ly as prote ctiv e melted any number of times, and

of lead metal which mine large she at hing fo r under g ro und and provided enough processes to removequantities of lead ore are China, und e r w at e r ca bl e s , in c lu di ng impurities are performed, the final

A u s t r a l i a a n d C a n a d a . A l l tr ans oce anic c able sy st ems . product (te rme d se conda ry lea d) is

industr ialized nations use lead. T he indistinguishable fr om primary leadCertain lead compounds are used asUSA is by far the greates t consumer, produced from ore.paint pigments. Red lead (lead oxide)most of it being used for batteries. is the basic paint primer for iron and Sig nificance of lead usesOther major consumers are China, UK, stee l. Most of the world's lead is mined

L e a d a d d i t i o n s i m p r o v e t h eGermany, Japan, Republic of Korea, in the China, Australia, USA, Peru.appearance and cutting properties of France and Italy. Spain, Mexico and They are the leaders in minecrystal glass. Small additions are alsoBrazil use less, In India about 75 production since 2004 year. But Chinamade to optical and electrical glass.percent of total demand is from the is major producer in refined zincThe major application of leaded glassdomestic battery industries. Demand followed by USA but Germany, J apan,is in television screens and computeris grow ing at the rate of 6- 7 percent UK are also emerging in productionmonitors to protect viewers from theper annum and will continue to grow in sector. T he supply of lead comes from

harmful X- ray s generated by thesethe near future. Annual demand for mainly from the mine production butappliances. Lead- containing glazeslead is nearly 1.60 lakh tons. Domestic recycling of scrap account a largeare used for some pottery, tiles anddemand is fed up by mine production share in the metal production.tableware.and recycling. But in India the

The lead scrap, 90 percent comesLead compounds were universally recycling sector is not performing from the battery industry, is r ecycled.added to petrol to improve its well in compar is on to other dev elo ped So in the lead metal production eachefficiency at low cost. This has beencountries so the share of recycled contributes about 50 percent of the major source of lead emissions tometals in domestic supply is no supply. As lead is mined as co-the environment. It is now being significant. Mostly lead is mined as product with zinc, its supply canphased out a lmost universal ly co- product of zinc so the prices and affected by a factor related to the zincbecause of concerns about healthsupply demand is highly affected by

metals.impacts.th e z in c m a rk e t . I n dia ’ s l e a d

A sudde n growth in the automobileproduction rate is not stagnant as its Lead productionsector plus the boom in thekeep change year by year. The mine

information technology and telecom T he lead supply in wor ld is based onproduction is increasing f rom 2000 to sector have resulted in increased mine production and recycling.2005 but refined production is not

demand for batteries, which mainly Recycling accounts larg e share in themoving accordingly the same. It was

use lead. The transportation sector lead supply. Around 50 percent of fluctuating year by year. Last few

used lead matter and account large production is supplied by recycling year s, 20 00 to 20 03 , wer e def icit to

share in lead consumption beside this, industry in which battery industry lead supply on that time domestic is

T V g l a s s , c o m p ut e r g l a s s , makes l ion share, followed by fed up import but in the year 2004

construction (including radiation p i g m e n t s a n d s h e e t . I n t h eIndian mine production increased as

shields), and protective coatings communications industry, lead is usedresulted to high quantity ex port.

extensively as protective sheathing

for underground and underwater

cables, including transoceanic cable

sy stems. Red lead (lead oxide) is the

basic paint primer f or iron and steel.

Le ad is found all over the w orld but thelarges t mining countries ar e A ustralia,

China and the United States, which

between them account for more than

50 percent of primary production.sectors are also consumers of lead.Uses Lead ore, which is also known as

A pprox imately 3 millio n tons of lea d is galena is mined with zinc ore. For leadT he largest single use of lead today is

January 2010

World refined lead supply and usage ('000 tons)

Year Mine production Metal production Metal usage

2004 3130 7005 7297

2005 3422 7624 7786

2006 3525 7925 8063

2007 3623 8118 81822008 3896 8673 8665

2008 (Jan - Oct) 3231 7160 7193

2009 (Jan - Oct) 3271 7350 7299

Source: ILZSG



18January 2010

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mining, mainly ore bodies at or near

the surface are mined by open- pit

methods. When an ore body occurs at

some depth below the surface, it must

be mined by undergr ound methods.

In India, lead mines are found at

Zawar , Rajpura- Dariba and Rampura-

A guc ha which ar e hig hly mechanis ed.

The first two are underground mines.

Rampura- A gucha is an opencast mine.

There are small lead mines at

Sargipalli and Agnigundala. In India

the mine zinc and lead were

commissioned in May 1991 together

with a sme lte r at Chande liy a which metal output in A ustralia, the Unite d of lead comes from recy cled lead, it isproved to be a significant step in

King dom and the United State s mainly wor th noting that in times of low leadreducing dependence on imports in due to plant closures in 2003 , will be prices, the colle ction of scr ap canthe case of both the metals. China is a

balanced by increase s in China and become unprofitable and this has amajor world producer and important

Kazakhstan. A s a result global output mark ed impact on lead supply.supplier of refined lead, ranking firstat 6.81 million tons will be similar to Likew ise, when lead prices are high,

in mine production followed by Unitedthat in 2003. In 2005, a rise of 4.1 there is a bigger incentive to find lead

States, Canada, Germany, the United percent to 6.99 million tons is scrap and to supply it to the market.Kingdom and Japan. In China, lead is

principally due to the commissioning T his makes lead more res ponsive toproduced mainly as a co- product of of new capacity in China toge ther with changes in price, than some of otherzinc. Recycling of lead, mainly from

ris es in A ustralia, Canada, India and metals that are more dependent onscrapped car batteries, is an important

the United K ingdom. pr i ma r y pr o duc t io n a nd ha v esource of refined lead in China,

relatively small secondary supply.India's production is highly effectedrepresenting nearly 50 percent of the

Demand for lead- acid batteries f orby zinc because domestically leadtotal refined production. World lead automotive, industrial and consumermining is done as co- product of zincproduction from mines is less from the

purposes account for 70 percent of theand if any case the zinc supply ismetal production because metal wo rl d's demand fo r lead. Lead'sincreased or decreased then it willproduction includes refined lead with

corrosion- resistant nature also lendssame reflect to lead. The domesticrecycled lead which is around 50

itself for applications in sheeting forproduction has been increasing frompercent share. Around 3 million tonsroofing purposes, while its radiation2000 to 2003 but the year 2004 the

of lead is produced from secondary attenuation properties prevent theproduction of refined lead is declined.

sources each year, by recycling scrap emission of harmful radiation fromBut the gr owth rat e in mine productionlead products such as sheet, pipe and

television, video and computers t i l l in p o s i t ive s ide . Re f in e dbatteries. In fact in the wes tern world monitors. Certain dispersive orproduction is declined due to many today more lead is produced by

readily bio- available uses, s uch asreasons. The main reason is ourrecycling than by mining. At least

lead in gasoline, in piping for drinking domestic recycling industry is underthree- quarters of all lead used goes

wa ter sy st ems , and in house holdban from the Indian recove ry unit.into products, which are suitable for

paints, have been or are being phasedrecycling. This is why lead has the Se condary production out in USA, China, Australia, Canadahighest recycling rate of all the Globally, secondary lead production and in certain other countries due tocommon non- ferr ous metals. growth is rising particularly in health concerns .

countries such as Australia, EuropeanPrimary production T h e l e a d a c i d b a t t e r y i s

Union, the US and Japan. Our country overwhelmingly. The principal use of The mine production, which is very lacks technology and policy to lead, with almost three quarters of less from metal production, fluctuatespromote production of secondary lead wor ld lea d production applie d to year by year but the re cy cling in a big way which cause high battery manufacture, however, theindustry received unambiguousfluctuation in the domestic supply and use of the batteries is changing,quantity of scrap regularly every yearimbalance in export and import which however. While the lead battery hasthat's why it is changing rarely. Inis changed every y ear. As roughly half the market for SLI (starter, lights and2004, anticipated falls in refined lead



ignition), there is increasing demand

for stationary and electric vehicle

batteries. The lead battery is

maintaining its dominant position

a m o n g th e c o m p e t in g ba t te ry

technologies through improving efficiency, r eliability and cost.

Consumption Whil e lea d is cons tant ly mee ting this

market challenge, it is also proving its

sustainable development credentials.

Few materials are so efficiently

u t i l i s e d. Le a d is u s e d by a l l

industrialised nations. The USA is by prices since 2001 has been more to do in China demand of lead is boosted tofar the biggest consumer, with some

with supply short ag es than buoy ant ver y hig h limit because cons umptioncountries in Asia (China, Japan,demand. In India similar to other of that metal has more than doubledKorea) and Europe (UK, Germany,country a sudden grow th in the since 2000. However grow th in ChinaFrance and Italy) also using large

automobile sector plus the boom in the is partly at the expense of that in otheramounts. Most of the lead is used forinformation technology and telecom reg ions. S econdary big consumerbatteries, an application which hassector has resulted in increased USA 's demand no change from 2004 togrown enormously in importance indemand for batter ies, which mainly 2005 ye ar but the Europe demand wasboth developed and developing use lead, sai d L . Puga zhenthy , increased in 1.5 percent in 2004 andcountry. The use of lead pipe hasEx ecutive Dir ector , India Le ad Zinc no changed in 2005 .declined, as it is no longer used forDevelopment Association. On anpotable water supplies, though lead Import and Ex portaverage, at least 10 kg of lead is usedsheet is used in roofing and other

In India ex port and import quantity in automotive batteries. Automotiveapplications, particularly in the UK.fluctuate every year due to changing batteries industry has become a highThe use of lead in chemicals remainscustom duties and government policy.growth one in the domestic business.at about 10 percent of EuropeanIf domestic recycling industry can beLead consumption in the country isconsumption; much of this is used inactive like other country then, notestimated to be around 1.5 lakh tons,glass for TV screens and stabilisers inmuch of lead is being imported as which should be between 2.25 - 2.5PVC.secondary lead is able to cope up with

lakh tons if one takes into accountGlobal refined lead metal production the demand apart from primary lead.circulation of recycled lead.rose 9 .7 percent in the first 1 0 monthsThe period of year 2000 to 2003 was

Globally and in the country, 75 percentof 2005 year to 6.2 million tons, whiledeficit to lead supply but it is improv ed

of the lead consumption is by thelead consumption increased 6.2in 2004 when a large quantity of

battery sector. Other applications forpercent to 6.3 million tons comparedexport is exported to the world

lead are alloys, pigments, cable w ith the same per iod in 20 04 ,market. The reasons of regular

sheathing etc. In India, the lead acidaccording to the latest statistics fromfluctuations in production may be due

battery segment is witnessing a 15the International Lead and Zinc Study to the irregular supply of lead scrap

percent a year grow th due to demandGroup (ILZSG). L ead demand has beenand government policy w hich affects it

f o r a u t o m o t i v e b a t t e r i e s ,fairly steady over the past few yearsto a great extent. In the domestic

uninterrupted power supply system with demand r is ing to 7 million t ons insupply, large quantity produced

and power inverters. Thrust on2004 from around 6.6 million tons inthrough mining only because of ban on

infrastructure s ectors s uch as telecom2001. However, the rise in overallrecycling unit from Indian recovery

and power have given an additionaldemand masks changes in regionalunit. The other reason can be

boost to the lead acid batteries s ector.demand. Battery manufacturing has reduction in the custom duty whichBesides India, lead is witnessing abeen closing in the west and new quantum jump in demand fromproduction is being set up in Asia andcountries such as China and those ine s p e c i a l l y C h i n a . W e s t e r nSouth- East Asia. All over Globalconsumption has fallen from arounddemand to increase by 2.8 percent in5.6 million tons in 2001 to around 5.32004 and 2.2 percent in 2005 and only million tons in 2004. The rise in lead

highly reduced in year of 2005 - 2006.

Le ad process ing Primary lead process ing T he US is the third largest producer of

January 2010



HZL’s lead programme

Activities April 2002, 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09

(disinvestment time)

Production capacity 35,000 35,000 85,000 85,000 85,000 85,000

Actual metal production 25089 15727 23636 44552 58247 60323

Mine production capacity (MnT) 3.45 4.45 5.85 5.85 6.15 7.1

Actual concentrate production (dmt) 52106 84251 95738 107334 125755 124945

Actual concentrate production 31640 54173 59677 67364 77724 83802

Reserves and resources (MnT) 143.7 164.8 177.6 209.4 232.3 272

20January 2010

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primary lead, with most coming from

Missouri. Concentrated lead ore is fed

into a sintering machine with iron,

silica, limestone fluxes, coke, soda

ash, pyrite, zinc, caustics or pollution

control particulates. The mixture isblasted with hot air to burn off the

sulfur and sent to the smelter. Lead is

usually smelted in a blast furnace

using the carbon from the sintering

machine to provide the heat source.

A s melt ing occurs , se ver al lay er s

form in the furnace. The molten lead

layer sinks to the bottom of the

furnace. A layer of the lightestor directly cast. Conclusionelements, including arsenic and

antimony, floats to the top and is T he lead industr y in India isSecondary lead process ing referred to as the "speiss." A "matte" characterised by the prese nce of only Most of the lead comes fromlayer also forms from the copper and secondary sources. Lead scrapmetal sulfides. Finally, a lay er of blast includes lead acetate batteries, cablefurnace slag, which contains mostly coverings, pipes, sheets and leadsilicates, also forms. The speiss and coated, or tern bearing, metals. Solderthe matte are usually sold to copper product waste and dross may also besmelters where they are refined for recovered for its small lead content.copper processing. The slag is stored Most secondary lead is used inand partially recycled, if the metal a few players in the primary segment.batteries. To recover lead from acontent is sufficient. The lead from the The primary lead industry in India isbattery, the battery is broken and theblast furnace, called lead bullion, and divided between Hindustan Zinc andcomponents are classified. The leadthen undergoes the drossing process. Binani Industries Ltd. India's leadcontaining components are processedThe bullion is agitated in kettles then market was e stimated by 1 .5 lakh tonsin blast f urnaces for hard lead or rotary cooled to 700- 800 degrees. T his by 2004 which surged to 3 .5 lakh tonsreverberatory furnaces for f ineprocess results in molten lead and by 2007 due to enormous growth inparticles. The blast f urnace is s imilar indross. Dross ref ers to the lead ox ides, industrial consumption mainly fromstructure to a cupola furnace used incopper, antimony and other elements battery sector. By 2007, importediron foundries. The furnace is chargedthat float to the top of the lead. Dross primary lead accounted for 40- 50 wit h slag, scrap iron, limes tone, coke ,is usually skimmed off and sent to a percent of demand, domestic leadoxides, dross, and reverberatory slag.dross furnace to recover the non- lead firms contribute 15- 20 percent andThe coke is used to melt and reduce thecomponents which are sold to other the rest comes from recycled sources.lead. Limestone reacts with impuritiesmetal manufactures. Finally, the But, due to exponential growthand floats to the top. T his process alsom o l t e n l e a d i s r e f i n e d . programme by the market leader HZL,keeps the lead from oxidizing. TheP yro m e ta l l u rg ic a l m e th o ds a re India is set to make a dent into exportmolten lead flows from the blastusually used to remove the remaining market.furnace into holding pots. Lead may benon- lead components of the mixture. mixed with alloys, including antimony,T he non- lead metals are usually s old tin, arsenic, copper and nickel. It is thento other metal processing plants. The cast into ingots.refined lead may be made into alloys

lead industry in india

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