Lead sheet, pipe, flashings, cable sheathing and weights — clean, unalloyed lead that can be remelted with little refining.
Lead sheet, pipe, flashings, cable sheathing and weights — clean, unalloyed lead that can be remelted with little refining.
Soft lead is pure, unalloyed lead: roofing sheet and flashings, old water pipe, cable sheathing stripped from power and telephone cables, radiation shielding and wheel weights with the steel clips removed. It is soft enough to mark with a fingernail, which is the yard test. The Racks grade requires it to be clean and free of foreign materials, battery plates, solder and alloys.
Because it needs only melting and light refining, soft lead sells close to the LME lead price.
Secondary lead smelters and lead sheet makers buy soft lead; cable-stripping operations and roofing contractors are the main sources. Many countries treat lead scrap as a controlled material for export, and lead-sheathed cable falls under the Basel rules in several jurisdictions.
Code: ReMA Racks (scrap lead, soft)
The main importing countries for this grade — each links to the country page with its mills, smelters, price references and named firms.