Red lead and its usage in India. One of the highest and the most commonly used metal in the world is Red Lead. These are OrangeRed in colour and were used as a primer in most of the steel structures back in 20th century. Even today, the Red Lead is used as an anti-corrosion pigment thus, applied over the metal surface. Red Lead is resistant to salt water and is used in high volume in the Red Lead Primers. The Red Lead is used mainly in making lead glasses and paints. They are used over steel and iron in high quantity to protect it from rusting. Red Lead is soluble in hydrochloric acid present in stomach and turns out to be hazardous when ingested. However, it is insoluble in substance such as alchohol & water. Red Lead is prepared by oxidation of metallic lead or Lead monoxide. It is a poisonous metal and comes in use at animal laboratory. The major use of Red Lead in india is in sindoor and paints. The ceramics, glass and explosives industries also contains pure Lead . Though, Red lead is not in use at colours by artist, yet it comes in usage of making colour glass and ceramic glazes. A well known fact of Red Lead is that it easily dissolves in hydrochloric acid, glacial acetic acid, and diluted mixture of nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide. One should also know that Red Lead cause irritation on skin when brought in contact. A renowned group, Metenere Limited, have been a successful Red Lead manufacturers in india and of metals like lead and aluminium since 1989. The founder if this group Mr. Raman Gupta, have worked hard in spreading the organization in India which also covers international market. At India, the company has five manufacturing plants, which includes Dadri, Uttar Pradesh, Damtal, Himachal Pradesh, Kathua, J&K, Samba and Gujrat. The branches of this company across state are well equipped with smelting, refining and casting capabilities and are involved in recycling of battery scraps, lead concentrate, re-melted lead ingots and lead scrap radio. In Lead Metal they manufacture • Pure Lead • Refined Lead • Alloys of Lead and Antimony/Calcium/Selenium/Tin
Also, in Lead Oxide Products they manufacture • Lead Sub Oxide • Red Lead • Litharge