Why are batteries so expensive ?

[Cross-7]

Seems like in the last few years the price has really jumped

 

[Supa Dexta]

Cause there's no lead smelters left on our side of the ocean... So they gotta ship it from china.

 

[ga.prime]

Price shock every time get a new one.

 

[Margonme]

Cause there's no lead smelters left on our side of the ocean... So they gotta ship it from china.

First, Supa Dexta is correct.

When my duty station was Helena, Mt., the last lead smelter in the US and I am thinking north America was in East Helena. It was placed on the National Priority List and soon closed. I was assigned the Butte Priority Soils Project when Scott Brown was assigned the East Helena Lead Smelter. The following is a good read:

In 1888, a large lead smelter was built on the banks of Prickly Pear Creek in the Helena Valley by the Helena and Livingston Lead Smelting Company. In 1898, the American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO) purchased the 160 acre site. ASARCO operated the smelter until 2001.

East Helena grew up around that enterprise. For over a century, the smelter processed 70,000 tons of lead bullion a year, and provided a livelihood for thousands of families. It also produced untold tons of toxic contaminants.

In 1984, the Environmental Protection Agency named East Helena as a Superfund cleanup site. ASARCO smelting operations were suspended in 2001.

In November of 2007, the Independent Record presented the ASARCO story.
Click here to access the archived feature.

On August 14, 2009, the ASARCO stacks were felled by dynamite charges, an emotional step in cleaning up the smelter site.

 

[Kingfisher]

Price shock every time get a new one.

I noticed at Walmart the other day they had some pallets of what they were calling "value line" of some common group sizes for @49.99. They sure didn't do us a favor shutting down the mines.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Cause there's no lead smelters left on our side of the ocean... So they gotta ship it from china.

EPA shutdown the last one in the country about a year ago

 

[dun]

Cause there's no lead smelters left on our side of the ocean... So they gotta ship it from china.

EPA shutdown the last one in the country about a year ago

I think that was the one here in MO

 

[Margonme]

Cause there's no lead smelters left on our side of the ocean... So they gotta ship it from china.

EPA shutdown the last one in the country about a year ago

CB, are you sure? I thought the East Helena Smelter was the last lead Smelter to close and that was in 2001.

I might be wrong. What was the name of it?

 

[dun]

Cause there's no lead smelters left on our side of the ocean... So they gotta ship it from china.

EPA shutdown the last one in the country about a year ago

CB, are you sure? I thought the East Helena Smelter was the last lead Smelter to close and that was in 2001.

I might be wrong. What was the name of it?

Doe Run in MO closed in 2013

 

[Margonme]

EPA shutdown the last one in the country about a year ago

CB, are you sure? I thought the East Helena Smelter was the last lead Smelter to close and that was in 2001.

I might be wrong. What was the name of it?

Doe Run in MO closed in 2013

Yes. Looked it up, Doe Run was a recycling smelter. East Helena Lead Smelter was a raw ore Smelter. Lead ore from Butte was railed to East Helena, about 80 mile distance. East Helena operated by ASARCO was the last raw ore smelter.

 

[boondocks]

Speaking of price jumps, why has dental floss gotten so expensive over the years? also, razors and deodorant. I'm serious, by the way. They have jumped disproportiotionately. Dieporportionately. Oh heck. All out of proportion.

 

[JMJ Farms]

Disproportionately. You had it right just doubled up on the 'tio'

 

[Kingfisher]

How do you know that lead is coming from china?

 

[boondocks]

Disproportionately. You had it right just doubled up on the 'tio'

Giot a new wireless mouse and it' giving me ten kind sof grief.. lol there it goes again :lol: