Lead-based alloys are the primary anodes used in electrowinning from sulphate-based aqueous systems. Lead anode technology has evolved over the years, migrating from pure lead and lead-antimonial alloys to the currently used lead–calcium–tin alloys for copper electrowinning, and lead-silver alloys for zinc electrowinning. It has also migrated from cast to rolled microstructures in search of improved mechanical properties and higher corrosion resistance. Although great strides have been made in the development of new alloys and production processes, the industry still has unresolved issues related to untimely corrosion, which limits anode life and may lead to higher contaminant levels in the metal being produced. Lead anodes corrode because of the difference in the chemical/electrochemical potential across the microstructural features of an anode. Given a very high-purity material, we find that the grain boundary areas corrode significantly faster than the rest of the grain. The desire to minimize grain boundary corrosion by a balance of alloying element selection, and microstructural design allows the grain boundary area to be engineered. However, operational issues can lead to unexpected corrosion behaviours, which we will discuss moving forward. The examples in this work, though directed towards copper electrowinning, can be extended to similar phenomena in other metals electrowon from sulphate media (i.e. zinc, nickel, cobalt, and manganese). The lifecycle of electrowinning anodes is dependent upon electrowinning tank house operating conditions and maintenance of the anodes, including cleaning and straightening. This paper will focus on the operational aspects of maximizing the utilization of lead electrowinning anodes.