Document 6wB6JGkZojYd8G5Eg1LaG3kJR

iiflhsJtoijiaila-* ejtftu-aa it; * VarffcW.ii nft-J ahtfi LIA16441 | jtafcfUfeM^rfauaa* i LEAD INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION_________ UO LCXINOTON AVCNUC n c w vomm it , m. r. a x a u s t s a iia j ooTUXt cm l e a d * Oearge I. rtlaoay*, Tie* President C. Tennant, Son* fc Co, . Thia year the tapir* Mining At Metallurgical Congr*** i* heing held la Australia and aa Broken Hill Associated Sasltars Pty. Ltd. la on* of tba boat* at this function, which extend* ovwr a rather protracted period, our Australian friend* unfortunately hare bean unable to aead a representative froa within their own ranks to thia netting. They have, however, prepared a paper entitled *11 AUSTRALIAN OUTLOOK ON HAD* which I aa honored to have been requested to read to you. Those of oou who know a* are well aware of the fact that Z aa not an Australian. But this paper, prepared In Australia end written in the first person, would lose its value as an Australian viewpoint, If I were to periphrase It. I shall therefore pretend thet I aa aa Australian, and for the acnant, ca official of Broken Bill l**ocisted Seelten Ply. Ltd. It la always a (rest pleasure for us In ths Australian lead industry to haws the opportunity to aodreei a a.etlng of the Lead Industries Association. It is perhaps s reflection of ths international accpe and common problsas of the Industry that these invitations, which we appreciate so such, havs been extended. Sine* FrarSc Green, the Manager of cur Port Plri* taslier speke at a Beetles of the Aaaoeiition In Chicago a year ago, producer* have euffered a aewrw and in eoa* eases crippling blow as a result of ths setback to eetal prices, and I hop* that you will permit a* to erwasnt briefly an the present position. Sine* the reopening of the London Nrtxl exchange for lead in October last ws have been operating in a free competitive asrkst under conditions that look to be very stellar to those that applied between the two ware. Producers havs undoubtedly benefited frost the high octal prices of the last few year*, vtdeh were at least partly due to such Gcvemnantal action as stockpdlinc, bulk buying, and price con* trole, but as a result of tho** prices, ws aust carry for scats tin* to c o m, ths burdens of high capital charges, high wages (partleularly in tbs torn of fringe benefits) and high production. There scene to be no grotatds for belief that tbs daaand for os* alned lead will not, in the long tern, be as great or svsn greeter than it is at the sonant. Eistory has shown that where lead has lost out to substitute* in on* field of coo* fsuaptlon It ha* gained in others, and additionally there are vast nustbers of people la ths world who would constitute an lawenae demand for lead if their living stand* ard* w*r* raised to on* quarter of our earn. In regard to ths United States I aa Presented at the 25th Annual Neetlrg of tho Lead Industrie* Aseoditioa April MO, 1953, -fhit* Sulphur Springy y. Ta. -Sea**.----rh* iT ^^*-1 t*>Mi n Ittai "d 1'a Australian Outlook on Lead *> ! * Ooorg# ! Biscay* mn that doubt* bar* b~en cut oa th* flguro* la tho Belay Report, bat even so all theso factor* auat add up to the fact that load rueourous, u wc know th**, *111 * *010*117 bo severely toxad to *oct requirement*. Whether tha presont deproseed market conditions bo abort lived or lent 11rod a cannot forosc*, .at If wo believe In tho ultl--.to nerd for all available load, tha problem of producer* at tha mocai.t la to maintain their capital intact and to safoguard th* interata of labour end atockholdora during th* inter!* period. Bocaus* of th* ptyslcal location of th* acrid'* load resources, the largo#* oontuaurs oust Import, and, excluding th* United Stitoa, producer* wust export. 1% la alto true that a 1 irgu proportion of tha production in th* exporting countries la ovnad by lcroatora In the cordoning countrlea. (It la probable that cine pro4uotlon outalda th* United State* controlled by inorlcan lnrestora la approaching tho equal of U.S.A. dcaeatlo production). I don't think therefor* that I can b accused of advocating on th# part of Breton Rill only when I aajr that it ***** to *a true that tha continued welfare of *11 producer* la a matter of Importance to members of this Association. You will recall that I referred a moment ago to t'.rn fact that frea market con dition* no* obtaining are similar to those that existed dunn,. th* twenties and thirtlaa. Those decades ware not very prosperous oroa for lead producers. Although tha market In 1918 aa able to absorb th* Bri.lsh Gove meant lead stoeka, which war* 0 thre* times what they were In 1952, lead never mads a very spectacular showing daring th* twenties, and by 1931 It was necessary for ex-thrited States producer* to eat their production to first elghty-flv* and than eighty percent of thair 1930 total*. Eventually the Industry achieved a not very substantial stability by tha Isolation of th* United States and tbs Britlah Ccmcnseilth from the world's market* and th* sacrifice of Mexico and other South American producers. It is interesting to not* In passing that th* influence of (liver, which rose In price in 193k and gave South American producers son* relief, has now gr atly declined as a factor la the eeooc*Le* of lead production. k* have no wish to return to tha days when we had eighty thousand tons of what we termed "delayed* lead stacked on the wharf at Port Plrle. It also appear* to be lj^rectlcal, particularly in the face of current coves towards a liberalisation at trad*, for any country or economic union of countrlos to taka drastic step* to pro tect its own section of the industry without beth damaging It* Investors (thus -ng the whole Industry lass attractive to capital) and endangering Its own supplies. On tha short term aspect of whieh I a* speaking, an at least partial sciatica for pro ducers seems therefore to lie In taking step*, where possible, to maintain consump tion of lead In its present fields of usage, to Investigate all possible new uaaa, and to examine all methods of reducing oosts. In regard to existing consumption there *e*a to be a ease for what might b* termed Improved publio relations, a field In wUch we appreciate our own shortcode*, Te should ensure that th* sarvlo* we give our euataDars la at least as good and if 0 possible better than they could obtain fro* producer# of eoqwtltlve substitutes, I a* thinking here particularly of such things as handling nethods and th* sit* and shape ef pl-s, alloying and purity, and research on technical problem# related to conswer require* nta. 1# cost also reeogrAae that lead, and tine, arc losing cut to substitutes which enjoy th* greet benefit of belr^ free frm major price fluctua tion!, and on thl* point there say possibly be room for restraint on th* part of oonsuaere as well as producer*. *WjW* I^gs JIJIM. 14IWLJW iitemijutiii uiudw mdcm in Australian Outlook oo I--d *3 0*^4* , _ _r Improvement In production cost* oust eventually b* of boa*fit to all oorooetod with th* load industry. It would b* very urerf.** to ballsvt that th* most officiant and ehoapost methods of mining end molting haw* yet boon perfected, Althoutfi cheml-- cal extroctlon processes that hsve boon recently Introduced art at tha moment ccw-- flood to tl>* recovery of auch metals aa copper and cobalt It stems not lapoaalbla that similar processes dll bo developed for laad and tine. Sulphur recorder fro* load concentrates maj also become increasingly attractive. from what X have said you will gather that we in Broken Hill viw the future optlalartically but with a certain aeount of caution. In our tarn industry we hope that coats will steady up now that the persistent ro-mde of wage Increase* with which v* have been dogged for the last few years appear to hove subaided. SaeHer production at Port Plxia will be about on* hundred and sixty four thousand tone for the year ended June 30th, 15^3. looked at generally, conditione in Australia are not buoyant, sod we are eufferir* fra* a capital shortage that has unfortunately mid* it necessary to defer th* completion of several major national poser scheme* and other industrial projects particularly in tbs textile and paper Industrie*. There has been a swing towards th* lsft in States1 Qoveiraent which nay possibly spread to the Federal sphere, and it is porhaps now unlikely that th* Australian mining industry will receive in the near future concessions In the tax field that would put it on a par with producers, say, in the Cnitod State* or Canada. It has been gratifying to note, however, th* decline of th* influence of extroadst left wing elements, particularly in th* trad* unions. 9 In th* mining world th* principal events of th* past year have been th* earn* missioning of th* new mill and haulage equipment in the Sew Broken Rill Consolidated miss, the completion of the Mount Zsa copper smelter, and perhrpe more signifleaaaly the discovery of the great uranium resources of th* northern Territory. is a result of the urcnlta discoveries, the establishment of guided ml sell* proving grounds, and other factors, Auatrlia is Warming of increasing atretegi* inpcrtxr.ee, a principle that has perhaps been ra:guilti by the need for the . Australia, New Zealand, Dnlted States pact, is baslo development procoods it may be necessary to ettraet an increasingly greater flow of overseas capital, pertiem- larly dollar investment. Prosperity for Australia depends to a large extant on th* level of business activity in th* United States, and in s more restricted field the Australian lead industry la equally dependent on the prosperity of mining end ooo- siaxing interests here, "lthout a healthy lead sdning Industry in the U.S.A. th* aearch for substitutes would Inevitably have been greetly accelerated. In England w* are taking step* to ex;*rid th* *cop* of th* laid Industrie* Devwlopser.t Council, whose activities as you know have hitherto boon confined to oertain section* of th* trad*, and I hop* that it will be possible to maintain in creasingly do** contacts between th* Council and this Assodstlon. Only by going out to soil lead and its products oaa th* good fortune of th* industry b* upheld at Its pr*s*nt level. 9 That gentleman. Is th* Broken Rill Associated 3*elt*r Bty. Ltd. outlook on lead. > . 'Wt jp W P svevpvp^ppiwams^ffn^w s mh *ii * usui i m wjujwiesiji \'