There are no lead smelters in the US anymore. The last one closed a few years ago.
Try fighting a war without lead production.
If I remember correctly, they closed because of the damned ecologists. How do you make ammo without lead? Steel shot is garbage when it comes to killing power. We’d better get rid of the eco bums if we want to save our country.
That is most likely due to EPA and OSHA regulations. All the lead back-up batteries for cable boxes, etc. are made in either Vietnam or China.
There are no primary lead smelters in the US. There are secondary smelters which use recycled lead that is used to produce, among other things, ammo.