[slipperypete]

A primary lead smelter is one that can take ore mined from the earth and turn it into refined lead. It appears that the EPA has placed new restrictions on the 120 year old plant, forcing it to either invest $100m into the plant to clean it up or close the doors. They chose the latter.

Upside is our environment will be cleaner.
Downside is the ore still needs refining, so now any lead ore mined in the US will have to be shipped (probably to China?) for smelting, and I can only imagine their process isn't EPA regulated, then shipped back to the US.

Will this cause ammo prices to go up? There is still a lot of lead that gets recycled and reused every year, but who knows only time will tell.

Last primary American lead smelter closing

Last Primary Lead Smelter in U.S. to Close Due to EPA Regulations | Texas GOP Vote

» Last Remaining Lead Smelter In The USA Closing After 120 Years Alex Jones' Infowars: There's a war on for your mind!

Sierra Responds: How Will the Closure of the Lead Smelting Plant Affect Sierra Bullets? | Sierra Bullets

Missouri smelter gains attention from conspiracy theorists | MSNBC

 

[GeneseeCC]

Not only bullet prices but other things like car batteries could skyrocket. Wonder how many people lost their jobs at the smelter thanks to the EPA.

 

[Hacker]

Not only bullet prices but other things like car batteries could skyrocket. Wonder how many people lost their jobs at the smelter thanks to the EPA.

I am sure when you calculate in the ripple effect, it gets much worse.

 

[Imran520]

It is good that Last primary lead smelter in US is closed.

 

[Spydermonkey]

It is good that Last primary lead smelter in US is closed.

No, actually its not, but how is Pakistan?

 

[DystruktoBoi1]

Why isn't the weirdo from the Bin Laden harboring country banned?

 

[SomeSoldier]

Not everyone from that country is bad, just like not everyone from this country is good.

 

[cor_man257]

The implications of this on our economy will be bigger than the effects on ammo. Thanks for encouraging outsourcing EPA.

Please defend your position on why this is good. Who is it good for? How?

 

[hooked]

Knowledge is power but little knowledge is lethal. I can bet imran520 has no idea about what this thread is about.

 

[ladder13]

In addition to ammo, it's wise to buy all the reloading(lead bullets) you can while prices are fairly stable. Geez, ammo and now lead, they REALLY are after our guns aren't they <sarcasm>?

 

[hooked]

In addition to ammo, it's wise to buy all the reloading(lead bullets) you can while prices are fairly stable. Geez, ammo and now lead, they REALLY are after our guns aren't they <sarcasm>?

Its the backdoor way to disarm America.

 

[Mhall10]

It is good that Last primary lead smelter in US is closed.

why is it good

 

[coolbreez67]

why is it good

For some reason, I doubt if he / she will explain his / her opinion. Take a look at all 5 of his / her posts.

 

[Carabiner]

It is good that Last primary lead smelter in US is closed.

Pakistan is a long way to post from, I guess to you any US factory closing is a good thing?

Lead is used in car batteries, electrodes, solder, boat keels, ballast, diver belts, Radiation and Xray shielding,
ammo, shot, etc..

 

[Obpr]

As I said in another thread on this topic. This smelter closing is a great loss of industry and jobs. I really doubt there will be a noticable increase in lead prices.

From The International Lead Association

Lead enjoys one of the highest recycling rates of all materials in common use today. This is a result of its
fundamental properties, good design and the ways in
which it is used, which make lead based products easily
identifiable and economic to collect and recycle. As a
result over half of the lead produced and used each year
throughout the world has been used before in other
products. What is more, because lead is a naturally
occurring element, the quality of the recycled lead is
identical to that of primary metal from mining.

Over the years, lead has been used for many different
applications, but the pattern of uses has evolved continuously.
A notable feature has been the elimination of such
dispersive uses as paints and gasoline additives, and the
growth in recyclable uses. Today about 80% of lead is used
in lead acid batteries, all of which are readily recyclable.
Indeed an efficient and extensive infrastructure exists in
most countries for the collection and recycling of used lead
acid batteries. A further 6% of lead is used in the form of
lead sheet by the building industry. Together with a number
of other smaller volume metallic applications such as
radiation shielding, cable sheathing and various specialised
applications, such as earthquake dampers, this means that
about 90% of all lead is used in readily recyclable products
- and almost all of it is recycled.

The recycling of lead brings many advantages both to
industry and to society at large, in areas such as energy
consumption, carbon emissions, resource conservation
and costs. As far as energy consumption is concerned,
the recycling of used lead products requires only about
one-third of the energy needed to produce lead from its
ores. This results in major energy savings and reduces
carbon emissions. Apart from these savings in energy
resources, the reduced demand for virgin metal also results
in less demand for lead ores which can thus be conserved
for future generations. The recovery of used lead products
and the recycling industry have also created significant
employment opportunities. These factors, coupled with
lower costs, mean that recycling is a very attractive option
for users of lead containing products, and a valuable
contribution to sustainability

http://www.ila-lead.org/UserFiles/File/FS_Recycling.pdf

 

[atTheWheels]

Why isn't the TROLL from the Bin Laden harboring country banned?

There...fixed

 

[Sax1031]

i bet working a the smelter was a decent paying job. this is why the middle class declines. all the decent paying jobs, especially manufacturing type jobs have been forced overseas.

the only thing left is spending 8 years in school or flipping burgers basically. not much middle ground left in this country.

 

[Kentuckyrifleman]

This will most likely scare people into buying ammo and driving up the price artificially, no matter how much of the supply is actually effected. As previously posted a huge amount of lead is recycled - especially from car batteries. You should see very little if any change in the supply of lead as this is just one plant. It is very obvious that Obama is using his EPA bulldog to close down the lead plant to effect ammunition supplies and purposely destroy economies as he has done with the coal industry down south. If the EPA really cared about the environment why would they force companies to purchase lead from other countries where it is done cheaply with few or no environmental regulations?
The company that owns the Doe Run plant will keep it running until December. After that they still own a lead recycling plant 90 miles away. If people do their research and think level-headedly there won't be a senseless panic over ammunition. If any vendor takes advantage of the situation express your disgust with your wallet and find a reputable ammo dealer who isn't trying to gouge people at every opportunity.
Remember a free-market economy and a free country work best with well-informed participants.