https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galena,_Illinois

They smelted all their lead from recycled materials, mostly batteries. That is why you get a relatively lot of money back for your used battery. They have ~15 customers and a LINE of more waiting if they could support the capacity.

Was a fun job, loved walking through the plant.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picher,_Oklahoma

The tailings from the mining operations are referred to as “chat” and were deposited into massive piles of small rock. We would play in these “chat piles” as a kid. Probably exposing ourselves to heavy amounts of lead and zinc dust.

The mines themselves were sometimes filled with water which became swimming holes.

Joplin has a decent sized population (50k) so much remediation has happend over the decades. Our lawn and many others in town were stripped down several inches and replaced. The chat piles mysteriously disappeared one year and the swimming holes have been filled.

Myself and my father have always complained of having memory issues. It could be genetic but I’m convinced it’s lead poisoning.