December 6, 2019: Mark Stevenson, one of the lead industry’s most popular and best-known veterans, was awarded the Lifetime Achievement in Lead Award at the India Lead Zinc Association conference in Mumbai on December 2-3. It also marked — to the day — the beginning of his 40th year in the industry.
The award was given for his expertise and contributions to the lead acid battery industry, said ILZDA president L Pugazhenthy, usually better known as Pug.
Presenting the award at the International Conference on Lead and Lead Batteries – Energy Storage, E-Mobility and Environment, International Lead Association managing director Andy Bush praised Stevenson for his ‘genuine passion and commitment to the industry’.
He said it also recognized the monumental efforts he had made in organizing the bi-annual Asian Battery Conference. This has grown from a handful of battery experts discussing technical content to an event where more than 1,000 delegates attended the 18th ABC in Indonesia last September, along with the 6th Secondary Lead Conference, both ‘cornerstones’ in Asia, Bush said.
For the first time at this year’s ABC, Stevenson and conference co-organizer Mark Richardson held a charity event, the ‘One-Minute Giveback’, in which delegates donated cash and goods to poor children in Bali. More than $30,000 was raised.
“I have known Mark for years, he has become a personal friend, and he has always had an extraordinary willingness to help those who truly want to see the industry prosper,” said Bush.
Accepting the award, Stevenson — who had been totally unaware that he was to receive it — said he was deeply honoured and thanked everyone in the industry.
“This day 40 years ago I started at a lead smelter,” he said. “I still have a passion for this industry and I feel it’s my industry. I’ve always fought for the underdog and I’ve never seen a group of people like it in any other industry, fighting and working together. There’s a lot of friendship here.
“Not one person here has all the answers or the knowledge, but together we have the knowledge and the answers and the only way is to work together.”
Australian Mark Stevenson joined Simsmetal in 1980, working at the lead smelting unit while he studied Material Sciences part time.
He then transferred to Pasminco, which operated zinc and lead mines, refineries and the world’s largest lead smelter.
In 1995 he moved to the head office in Melbourne, where his technical skills were focused on the marketing and technical support of lead products.
Stevenson stayed throughout the Pasminco/Zinifex/Nyrstar mergers until 2010, when he joined Eco-Bat Technologies as technical manager for the Asia region.
He left Eco-Bat three years ago to fulfil a long-held ambition to provide a speciality secondary lead consultancy — Global Lead Technologies — that provides independent expert advice to the Asian region.
On the second day of the conference, Stevenson gave a presentation on what he calls the four S’s challenging the lead battery industry: Slag, Sulfate, Separators and Simplicity.
He also attacked the informal recycling sector, which he calls ‘rogue smelting’, and said used lead acid batteries were not a waste product: “they are a valuable commodity,” he said.
