Lead smelter slags, produced during the last century in quantities of
millions of tonnes at Lavrion, Greece, have recently been used in the
construction of Lavrion harbour. In order to evaluate the geochemical
stability of slags and assess their environmental impact on the aquatic environment, a detailed study on lead leachability under conditions that simulate subsea environments was carried out. Leaching experiments using magnesium chloride solutions under mild temperature conditions were conducted and the effect of main parameters on lead solubility was examined. Furthermore, kinetic analysis on the experimental results was performed. Based on the results, lead dissolution increases by increasing the reaction time, magnesium chloride concentration in the bulk solution and temperature, whereas it decreases by increasing the slags particle size. The reaction order was found to be approximately 0.5 at the initial extraction stages and the activation energy value from the Arrhenius plot was estimated to 29.8 KJ/mole. Diagnostic equations applied to all the experimental data reveal that lead dissolution is mainly controlled by diffusion through the ferrosilicate matrix of the slag particles, which is in accordance with the low activation energy value. The Jander's diffusion equation [1-(1-a)1/3]2=kt was proposed as the equation representing the reaction of lead dissolution from slags using magnesium chloride solutions.