Show everything points to much higher price for lead the sudden rise and tall fall in lead quotations of late had a parallel in copper fluctuations a number of bears ears ago copper advanced with rapid strides at that time as many of our readers will remember until it attained a selling price of 25 cents a pound the quotation was alto gether too high and could not be sustained and its quick drop to 18 cents within a week almost cau caused sed a panic in commercial and industrial circles lead when it ed I 1 11 I 1 and 12 cents a few weeks ago was alto gether too high and especially so when one recalls the tact fact that the domestic consumption of lead pro ducts at the pres present elat time has been greatly curtailed while the govern ment it is stated cannot use half of the current production in manlutac turing war materials the imbres sion prevailed in certain sections however that lead would maintain high levels and it is reasonable to suppose that much of it was bought for speculative purposes IN hen I 1 it t became clear however that the de mand for lead was not so urgent as had been supposed and as it became generally known that the govern ment had contracted for its needs at 8 cents a pound quotations began to decline rapidly until a point of 5 cents was reached this deac tion evidently threw a scare into the ranks of the producers of this metal and they were hard hit but it is be lieveld that the slump cannot long endure and already the market is showing an upward tendency and 1 there is reason to believe that it will soon re establish reestablish itself around 7 and 8 cents at which figures conditions would be considered as being about normal at 6 or even six cents the producer is at more disadvantage than when a quotation of four our cents permitted profitable production as since then the advance in the cost of everything pertaining to production such as labor powder treatment charges and supplies ot of every kind has advanced to such an extent that a loss is being entailed on every pound of lead produced that is it if lead Is the predominating metal ot of the ore mined and treated like copper however lead la Is sure to advance again in quotations and its recovery is almost certain to be more rapid whether the war ates within six months or two years iwar war will have its certain require ments which must be filled and when peace comes the of the whole world its practical re construction will demand an almost unlimited supply supply of lead and its by products taken as a whole the outlook for lead is not as gloomy as some are lead to be believe lleva and its sudden de dine cline should not cause the suspension of lead mining to any great extent salt lake mining review |