# Lead

A toxic heavy metal with a second life: most lead now goes into car batteries and comes back as scrap.

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lead/

Base metals · No. 9

- US critical 2025
- HHI 1,952 · moderately concentrated
 Base metals · Foundation · Matter

The world refines nearly three times more lead than it mines, because old car batteries keep coming back.

Chart: Illustration: Lead

##### Where it comes from

Chart: Map of where it comes from

Lead is mined as galena, almost always alongside zinc and often silver. But most refined lead now comes from scrap batteries melted down again.

##### Three things to know

1. India is both the top exporter and top importer of refined lead, thanks to its big battery and recycling industry.
2. In 1978 the US banned household paint with more than 0.06% lead, and titanium dioxide took its place.
3. US secondary lead in 2025 equalled 70% of the country's apparent consumption, nearly all from old batteries.

##### The journey

1. 1 **Galena ore**Lead sulfide, usually with zinc, silver
2. 2 **Concentrate**Crushed and floated
3. 3 **Smelting**Bullion, then refined lead
4. 4 **Battery plates**Alloyed with antimony or calcium
5. 5 **Recycling**Spent batteries resmelted as secondary lead

##### Go deeper pick a tab to open it in full

## Other sections

- [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lead/overview/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lead/correlation/index.md)
- [Extraction](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lead/extraction/index.md)
- [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lead/production/index.md)
- [Stocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lead/stocks/index.md)
- [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lead/cycles/index.md)
- [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lead/trading/index.md)
- [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lead/movement/index.md)
- [Criticality](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lead/criticality/index.md)
- [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lead/characteristics/index.md)
- [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lead/emissions/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lead/links/index.md)