Lead APEX Mineral

Lead (Pb #82)(Latin: Plumbum) is the next element on the periodic table for my APEX mineral collection.  

Wikipedia Lead  
Lead Minerals - There are many Lead minerals.  

Galena (PbS) (Lead Sulfide) with 87% Lead is the best APEX Mineral choice.    

Lead has the highest atomic number of all of the stable elements.  Lead is very useful in industry because of its properties:

• Low melting point
• High ductility
• High density 
• Very inexpensive

Lead has been used for thousands of years because it is widespread, easy to extract and easy to work with. It is highly malleable as well as easy to smelt.  Roman era Lead pipes are common.

Lead is primarily used as an electrode in lead-acid batteries for automobiles.  It has many other uses. 

Lead and most of its compounds are toxic.  Lead poisoning has been documented from ancient Rome, ancient Greece, and ancient China.