Lead is the raw material for manufacturing batteries, cables, bullets and ammunition, as well as the additive of gasoline. Lead compounds are used as raw materials for pigments, glass, plastics and rubber. Because metal lead has excellent acid and alkali corrosion resistance, it is widely used in manufacturing chemical and metallurgical equipment. Lead alloy is used as bearing, movable type gold and solder. In addition, lead has also opened up some new uses. For example, it is used as a stabilizer of asphalt to prolong the service life of pavement; It is used for manufacturing shielding and nuclear waste storage tanks in nuclear power plants, high-power battery packs for load adjustment in electric power departments, and magnetic fluid dynamics devices.

Lead extraction, metallurgy, pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy are two kinds of methods, the former is widely used in industrial production. The traditional pyrometallurgy method of lead generally includes three links: lead concentrate sintering and roasting, lead smelting, crude lead pyrorefining or (lead electrolytic refining). The blast furnace reduction smelting method is the most widely used traditional lead smelting method. The lead produced by this method accounts for 85% of the total lead production. Lead smelting by blast furnace reduction smelting method is a method of reducing lead oxide to coarse lead with coke as reducing agent. This method requires first sintering and roasting to convert most of PbS in lead sulfide concentrate into PbO, and then sintering and roasting materials into blocks. The crude lead produced by lead smelting also contains a lot of impurities. It needs to be refined by fire refining or electrolytic refining to obtain refined lead that meets the product quality standards and user requirements, and to recover valuable metals in the crude lead. Fire refining of crude lead plays a leading role in today's lead refining.