Recovery after maintenance buoys weekly operating rates at primary lead smelters

SHANGHAI, Jul 5 (SMM) – Average operating rates across primary lead smelters in Henan, Hunan and Yunnan provinces advanced this week as smelters recovered from maintenance. 

Rates across primary lead smelters in the three provinces averaged 55.9% in the week through Friday July 5, up 2 percentage points from a week ago, an SMM survey showed.

Shandong Hengbang, Hunan Jingui Silver, and West Mining restarted as scheduled, while Guangxi Hechi Nanfang delayed the resumption to mid-July, and Hanzhong Zinc also postponed its recovery. 

This week, the average operating rate across primary smelters in Yunnan climbed 2.8 percentage points, to stand at 42.3%, and the rate across Hunan smelters rose 4.9 percentage points, to 43.4%. Average rate remained unchanged at 68.4% for smelters in Henan.