[potato3732842]

>That's a loss of 2/3 of production to non-scrap effluvia

Considering that the amount of stuff in our world made from steel at any one time is steadily increasing this makes sense.

>The most heavily recycled metal in the US is lead, per USGS data and prior comments of mine, with recovery rates of about 75%, accounting for 40% of net production.

There's little to no "post consumer pre-recycler" use for lead whereas every tom dick and harry can find a use for some old pipes or beams or whatever.