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Lead Price D o w n Despite Quotas Metal feels impact of lower world markets; stocks increasing—zinc price is stabilized JLEAD METAL prices have embarked on
a decline which in a short time has pulled the New York market down from 13 cents to 11 1 ._, cents per pound. Benefits obtained from the lead-zinc im port quotas effected in 1958 are being offset, people in the trade contend, by a lower world market. Foreign lead has been made avail able here at discounts, and the tonnage of domestic sales recently has been dis appointing. As a result, lead stocks are increasing, and a t the end of 1958 came close to the 200,O€0-ton level. Decem ber shipments of 24,852 short tons were the smallest since April 1958. Industry views, however, hold that the quota system in time will stabilize the situation. A.lso, there have been de m a n d s recently for more drastic govern ment measures, including subsidies, to assist the nonferrous metals. But in Washington, administration spokesmen have made it plain that the emergency quotas on lead and zinc will b e kept pending an international agreement on foreign production and exports. • Research P r o g r a m . T h e lead in dustry, meanwhile, is engaged in an in tensive and widespread research pro gram aimed at increasing t h e metal's use. Participating in the program are
Pigments and Chemicals Site; Y^yciiM:Lead;Supply v . \ ^ ":
440,800 361,000 , 115,000 , 190,000 I 15,000 ! 17,000 |
vScmrcK UiS.Bureau*of Mines->957 data. l \ 1
44
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C U N MARCH
I
2, 1959
* Powder metallurgy.
While Àiîoys Take Part of Zinc
Con sumption < (Tons)
METAL PRODUCTS. BATTERIES
lead producers from the U. S., Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, Australia, South America, and Africa. T h e program was detailed the other day before the National Western Min erals Conference at Denver by R. L. Ziegfeld, secretary of t h e Lead Indus tries Association. Projects are under way or will soon start, he said, in elec trical cable sheathing, alloys, organolead compounds, heat emissivity, ce ramics, paint formulation, and many others. Rubber, plastics, aluminum, and vari ous combinations of materials have given lead tough competition in cable sheathing—once a 200,000 ton-per-year outlet for lead. Today it is consuming less than half that amount. There are hundreds of organolead compounds which may find commercial application and which should be inves tigated, Ziegfeld says. The most im portant developed to date is tetraethyllead. It has increased its consumption of lead from zero in 1923, when it was introduced, to more than 175,000 tons a year today. Other areas of lead investigation in clude:
• Sound a n d vibration attenuation properties. • Thin sheet lead and lead foil lam inations with other materials. • Lead coatings on metals a n d plas tics. Refrigerators in t h e future m a y d e pend on lead telluride's ability t o cool under t h e influence of voltage change. T h e n e w 5-pound generator developed by the Atomic Energy Commission d e pends o n t h e semiconducting proper ties of lead telluride. • Zinc Production Down. Zinc is comparatively steady both here arid abroad. Domestic price is holding a t ll 1 /-» cents p e r pound, East St. Louis. U. S. s l a b zinc production w a s 1.1 mil lion tons in 1957 a n d 828,902 tons in 1958, d o w n 21.5',' arise from oversupply, stimulated by world political conditions a n d b y uncertainties in government procure ment policies. Two major uses for zinc are still gal vanizing and die casting. Galvanized steel sheet was 2.5c/c of all steel in 1948; in 1958 it was an estimated 4.7 or 4 . 8 ' ί . Greatest outlet for die castings is the automobile industry. Production of zinc oxide, both leaded and lead-free, declined a n estimated 14'/f in 1958, while shipments fell an estimated 8r, '
