DOE RUN OPENS $38 MILLION FACILITY TO RECLAIM SCRAP LEAD

BOSS, Mo. Doe Run Co., a producer of refined lead metal, dedicated a recycling plant for lead scrap and residues here last week.

Ninety percent of the lead recycled at the facility will come from automotive and industrial batteries.

The $38 million plant is in the heart of Missouri's lead belt near Doe Run mining, milling and smelting operations, about 85 miles southwest of St. Louis

It is designed to handle scrap lead and residues from a 550-mile radius and places in Colorado, Wyoming and Texas.

"We're thrilled about what this facility and process will bring to Missouri and the United States," plant general manager Kenneth Buckley said at the dedication. "Our technology will make this plant one of the cleanest facilities found anywhere."

Plant construction began in May 1990. It has been operating since July 11. The plant, which employs about 90 people, will mean more than $7 million to south-central Missouri's economy in salaries, wages, goods and services, Doe Run officials said.

By recycling lead-bearing waste materials, the plant will boost national resource recovery by reclaiming 60,000 tons of refined lead from 100,000 tons of used lead-acid automobile batteries, 10,000 tons of used industrial batteries, and 10,000 tons of other lead-bearing materials each year.

Lead is used for numerous products in transportation and communications markets, including automobile batteries, computer and television screens, shielding for X-rays and backup power sources for electricity.

A chief objective was to develop the most environmentally sound method known for recycling, Buckley said. He said its technology, the most sophisticated in the country, was developed by Engitec Implanti of Milan, Italy.

Doe Run is North America's only fully integrated producer of refined lead metal, with mining and milling operations near Viburnum and a large smelting operation near Herculaneum. The Doe Run operations include six mines, four mills and two smelters.

The firm's vice president and general manager, John FitzSimmons, discussed the lead operation at this month's First Friday Coffee in Cape Girardeau.

Doe Run Co., employs about 900 people and has a $50 million payroll. The company pays more than $6 million in taxes annually and pays another $4 million in royalties to the U.S. Forest Service.

Five percent of the net proceeds of lead concentrate shipped from the Doe Run mill go to the Forest Service. Twenty-five percent of the royalty is then returned to the government of the county in which the national forest is situated, and is used for schools, roads and other local government services.

"Our efforts with the new recycling operation should help Missouri's interest in solid wastes and the state's new law that mandates automobile batteries no longer can be placed in landfills," said Buckley.