Korean made Exide car batteries....?

[Nyogtha]

Doe Run did shut down the primary smelter in 2013 after all

http://www.doerun.com/what-we-do/metal production

As I said earlier the recycling operation will doubtless continue, for now.

Doe Run *was* the largest primary lead smelter in the western world

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_smelting

And to the point, we're already shuffling lead in car batteries around the globe, here in the US importing new batteries from places like Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and now Korea - and I'm sure there are others (Mexico?).

China dominates the global production of lead these days. South Korea is at the bottom of this list. North Korea is in the middle. Wonder where the lead in those Korean batteries comes from?

https://www.indexmundi.com/minerals/?product=lead

 

[Errtt]

I replaced the battery in my Hyundai last year. It had Korean writing on the label. Lasted 6 years (2010-2016).

 

[mrsilv04]

I'd love to get my hands on one of those digital Harbor Freight Battery Tester/Analyzers and go test one and see what it has... and then test my one year old one as a comparison.

Curious to know how close it is to the ratings on the sticker.

 

[Nyogtha]

This latest report by the USGS shows the US imports about 30% of the lead we use, and also mentions export of used automotive lead acid batteries as one reason for increased imports. Most imported lead currently comes from Canada and Mexico.

LINK

With no operating primary lead smelters left in the US, all lead mined in the US has to be exported (as lead concentrate) to be smelted into primary (non-recycled) lead. South Korea does have the largest lead smelter in the world currently even though their lead mining production is low, with China as second place in lead smelting capacity. So South Korea must be a major importer of lead concentrate - from where is the question.

http://piercepoints.com/mining-investment-exploration-lead-zinc-korea-smelter-smelting-concentrate/

Australia has the worlds largest lead reserves, twice that of China, but China produces about 2.5 times as much lead concentrate than Australia as seen in a prior posted link.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/273652/global-lead-reserves-by-selected-countries/

 

[mrsilv04]

Found this last night at Wal-Mart. I think the batteries from our good friends, the Saudis, has already been mentioned though.

 

[nthach]

Looks like the old Delco case design is used on the Saudi/Korean batteries. As a matter of fact, JCI's Korean acquisition was a JV with GM(Delkor), and OEM Hyundai Solite batteries looked like a Delco Freedom.

 

[Nyogtha]

Thanks for the tip on Delkor nthach.

http://www.johnsoncontrols.com/batteries/lead-acid-batteries/battery-brands

https://www.delkor.com.au/en-au/our-brand/delkor-history

Here's the Saudi Arabian supplier

http://www.mebco.com/Pages/aboutus.aspx