This sounds dumb I have never heard of mining for lead..but then there are millions of things I haven't heard of...:O)
Now mining/panning for gold is something I would like to do..on my bucket list but am too old to do it now...Always wanted to hire some old prospector and a mule in Alaska, grub stake him for the summer and have him take me out panning for gold.. Have gone diamond mining in Arkansas, but didn't find any diamonds...Arkansas has the only diamond area, state park that you can go and dig for diamonds...over the years some big one's have been found. The big canary diamond Hilliary Clinton wore to the inaugural ball is a diamond found at the diamond mine state park...If you find one, they will buy it off you on the spot. You take all the minerals/stones you find to their expert and they will tell you what you have.
When the English colonized the Atlantic seaboard, one of the first things the settlers did was look for and mine lead. They'd melt them down to make these:
for this: