Expect rise in ammo prices because smelter is closing, NRA says

Missouri company closing lead smelting plant because it can’t meet anti-pollution regulations

Whether or not the federal government is engaged in a plot to deny citizens ammunition for their guns, there’s no doubt government regulations will put the nation’s last and only lead smelter out of business next month.

According to reports from the National Rifle Association and Charlotte-based Ammoland.com, the primary lead smelter at Herculaneum, Mo., will close its doors at year’s end.

The smelter, owned and operated by the Doe Run Company, has been in existence at the same location since 1892. It is the only smelter in the country that can convert raw lead ore into lead bullion mined from large deposits in Missouri.

Lead produced at the plant has been sold to companies that produce products made of lead: including ammunition manufacturers for conventional components such as rifle and muzzleloader bullets, shell cores, primers and shotgun pellets.

The lead also was used at secondary smelters where it was taken from old batteries or spent ammo and converted.

The problem for Doe Run was that the Environmental Protection Agency changed air-quality standards in 2008, and the agency’s new benchmark for lead production was much more restrictive than previous standards.

Although Doe Run made changes to reduce emissions from its smelter plant, the company couldn’t conform to EPA’s stricter regulations, so the company’s directors decided to close the plant.

Firearms-industry observers have opined that the current lack of ammunition available to sportsmen and target shooters was caused by a 30- to 40-percent increase in demand fomented by economic instability and worry the federal government is headed by politicians eager to confiscate weapons, plus reports of huge purchases of ammunition by the government.

Whether sportsmen face pressure from left-leaning politicians or too much bullet demand, with the close of the country’s only lead-ore smelter, it is certain that lead prices at retail stores soon will go through the roof.