August 21, 2024: Glencore has revealed that overall lead metal production by the group in the first half of this year was down 21% — due in part to European smelter outages.

The mining group said on August 7 that the drop of 26,500 tonnes, compared to the same period a year ago, reflected a temporary furnace shutdown at its Nordenham Metall lead facility in Germany and the continued “care and maintenance” of its Portovesme lead line in Sardinia.

However, Glencore has yet to respond to questions from Batteries International about the reasons for the Nordenham temporary shutdown or say when the facility is expected to return to operation.

Lead has been produced at Nordenham since 1912 and the facility produces more than 10,000 tonnes of primary and secondary lead on average annually.

Glencore has said previously that Nordenham will be transformed into a “modern polymetallic smelter” in future years to handle lower-lead zinc production residues and more complex composite materials.

On Portovesme, the group has also yet to comment on what the future holds for the site since it emerged in late 2022 that Glencore was reviewing operations against the backdrop of escalating energy costs.

Batteries International reported last November that Glencore was considering building a pilot EV battery recycling plant at Portovesme in a joint venture with Canada’s Li-Cycle, while continuing to dodge questions about the future of the site’s lead and zinc processing facility.

Meanwhile, troubled Canadian recycler Li-Cycle has confirmed that its first battery recycling ‘spoke’ facility could be shut down, as the firm “explores financing and strategic options” to increase near-term liquidity.

Li-Cycle, which announced a leadership shake-up and job cuts last spring, said earlier this month it is “exploring financing and strategic options” to increase its near-term liquidity and could close its first battery recycling ‘spoke’ facility in Ontario.