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#           Lead Statistics and Information      

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Statistics and information on the worldwide supply of, demand for, and flow of the mineral commodity lead

Lead is a very corrosion-resistant, dense, ductile, and malleable blue-gray metal that has been used for at least 5,000 years.   Early uses of lead included building materials, pigments for glazing ceramics, and pipes for transporting water.   The castles and cathedrals of Europe contain considerable quantities of lead in decorative fixtures, roofs, pipes, and windows.   Prior to the early 1900s, uses of lead in the United States were primarily for ammunition, brass, burial vault liners, ceramic glazes, leaded glass and crystal, paints or other protective coatings, pewter, and water lines and pipes.   The advent of the electrical age and communications, which were accelerated by technological developments in World War I, resulted in the addition of bearing metals, cable covering, caulking lead, solders, and type metal to the list of lead uses.   With the growth in production of public and private motorized vehicles and the associated use of starting-lighting-ignition (SLI) lead-acid storage batteries and terne metal for gas tanks after World War I, demand for lead increased.   Most of these uses for lead continued to increase with the growth in population and the national economy.   Contributing to the increase in demand for lead was the use of lead as radiation shielding in medical analysis and video display equipment and as an additive in gasoline.

By the mid-1980s, a significant shift in lead end-use patterns had taken place.   Much of this shift was a result of the U.S. lead consumers compliance with environmental regulations that significantly reduced or eliminated the use of lead in nonbattery products, including gasoline, paints, solders, and water systems.   More recently, as the use of lead in nonbattery products has continued to decline, the demand for lead in SLI-type batteries has continued to grow.   In addition, the demand for lead in non-SLI battery applications also has continued to grow.   Non-SLI battery applications include motive sources of power for industrial forklifts, airport ground equipment, mining equipment, and a variety of nonroad utility vehicles, as well as stationary sources of power in uninterruptible electric power systems for hospitals, computer and telecommunications networks, and load-leveling equipment for electric utility companies.   By the early 2000s, the total demand for lead in all types of lead-acid storage batteries represented 88% of apparent U.S. lead consumption.   Other significant uses included ammunition (3%), oxides in glass and ceramics (3%), casting metals (2%), and sheet lead (1%).   The remainder was consumed in solders, bearing metals, brass and bronze billets, covering for cable, caulking lead, and extruded products.

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### **Monthly Publications**

Mineral Industry Surveys
                            - Lead    PDF Format:      2024: |  Jan  |  Feb  |  Mar  |  **Apr**  |  **May**  |      2023: |  Apr  |  May  |  Jun **** |  Jul ** ** |  Aug  |  Sep  |  Oct  |  Nov  |  Dec  |    XLSX Format:      2024: |  Jan  |  Feb  |  Mar  |  **Apr**  |  **May**  |      2023: |  Apr  |  May  |  Jun **** |  Jul ** ** |  Aug  |  Sep  |  Oct  |  Nov  |  Dec  |
                            - U.S Production of Selected Mineral Commodities (Quarterly Mineral Industry Surveys)

### **Annual Publications**

Mineral Commodity Summaries
                            - Lead    PDF Format:       |  1996  |  1997  |  1998  |  1999  |  2000  |  2001  |  2002  |  2003  |  2004  |  2005  |  2006  |  2007  |  2008  |  2009  |  2010  |  2011  |  2012  | 2013  | 2014  | 2015  | 2016  | 2017  | 2018  |  2019  |  2020  |  2021  |  2022  |  2023  |  **2024**  |
                            - Appendixes

Minerals Yearbook
                            - Lead    PDF Format:       |  1994  |  1995  |  1996  |  1997  |  1998  |  1999  |  2000  |  2001  |  2002  |  2003  |  2004  |  2005  |  2006  |  2007  |  2008  |  2009  |  2010  |  2011  |  2012  |  2013  |  2014  |  2015  |  2016  |  2017  |  2018  |    XLS Format:       |  2002  |  2003  |  2004  |  2005  |  2006  |  2007  |  2008  |  2009  |  2010  |  2011  |  2012  |  2013  |  2014  |  2015  |  2016  |  2017  |  2018  |  2019 tables-only release  |  2020 tables-only release  |  2021 tables-only release  |  **2022 tables-only release**  |
                            - Archive       |  1932-1993  |
                            - Recycling-Metals

### **Special Publications**

                            - Apparent Consumption vs. Total Consumption-A Lead-Acid Battery Case Study  Scientific Investigations Report 2006-5155
                            - Comparison of the U.S. Lead Recycling Industry in 1998 and 2011  Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5086
                            - Factors that Influence the Price of Al, Cd, Co, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb, Rare Earth Elements, and Zn  Open-File Report 2008-1356
                            - Flow Studies for Recycling Metal Commodities in the United States  Circular 1196-A-M
                            - Historical Global Statistics  (Data Series 896)
                            - Historical Statistics for Mineral and Material Commodities in the United States  Data Series 140                               - Lead 
                            - I nternational Mineral Exploration Activities From 1995 Through 2004  Data Series 139
                            - Lead Scrap Use and Trade Patterns in the United States,1995-2012  Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5114
                            - Lead Recycling in the United States in 1998  Circular 1196-F
                            - Lead - Soft and Easy to Cast  Fact Sheet 2011-3045
                            - Metal Prices in the United States through 2010  Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5188
                            - Statistical Compendium
                            - Stocks and Flows of Lead-Based Wheel Weights in the United States  Open-File Report 2006-1111
                            - Total Materials Consumption: An Estimation Methodology and Example Using Lead  -- A Materials Flow Analysis  U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1183
                            - U.S. Mineral Dependence-Statistical Compilation of U.S. and World Mineral Production, Consumption, and Trade, 1990-2010  Open-File Report 2013-1184

### **Links**

                            - EPA's Lead Pages
                            - International Lead and Zinc Study Group

### Contacts

#### Kateryna Klochko

##### Mineral Commodity Specialist

National Minerals Information Center

kklochko@usgs.gov

703-648-4977