Lead ores are smelted in the reverberatory furnace, the ore-hearth, and the blast-furnace.
Three types of reverberatory practice are in vogue-the English, Carinthian and Silesian.
In Wales and the south of England the process is conducted in a reverberatory furnace, the sole of which is paved with slags from previous operations, and has a depression in the middle where the metal formed collects to be let off by a tap-hole.
The loss in lead by the combined reverberatory and blast-furnace treatment is only 3.2%.
In Cumberland, Northumberland, Durham and latterly the United States, the reverberatory furnace is used only for roasting the ore, and the oxidized ore is then reduced by fusion in a low, square blastfurnace (a "Scottish hearth furnace") lined with cast iron, as is also the inclined sole-plate which is made to project beyond the furnace, the outside portion (the "work-stone") being provided with grooves guiding any molten metal that may be placed on the "stone" into a cast iron pot; the "tuyere" for the introduction of the wind was, in the earlier types, about half way down the furnace.