Lead isotope data from sulfide deposits of the western part of the Baltic Shield define mixing lines in the  ²⁰⁶Pb ²⁰⁴Pb- ²⁰⁷Pb ²⁰⁴Pb diagram. Lead from two types of sulfide deposits have been investigated: 1. (1) Exhalative and volcanogenic deposits that are syngenetic with their host rocks 2. (2) vein deposits. The syngenetic deposits locally show a very wide range of lead isotopic compositions that reflect a variable addition of highly radiogenic lead, while the vein deposits, although they have radiogenic lead isotopic compositions, exhibit only limited isotopic variations. In different provinces of the shield, both types of deposits fall on the same lead mixing array. The slope of the lead mixing lines varies as a function of the age of basement rocks and the age of the tectonic event which produced the lead mobilization and therefore relates the source rock age with the age of lead mobilization. Calculated mixing ages fall into several short time periods that correspond either to orogenic events or to major phases of continental rifting. The orogenic events are the ca 360-430 Ma Caledonian, ca 900-1100 Ma Sveconorwegian, and the ca 1800-1900 Ma Svecofennian orogenic cycles. The rifting events correspond to the formation of the ca 280 Ma Oslo rift and the Ordovician (ca 450 Ma) graben system in the area of the present Gulf of Bothnia. Each mixing age indicates that lead was mobilized, probably as a consequence of mild thermal disturbances, and that the crust was permeable to lead migration. The data show that the geographic distribution of sulfide deposits with highly radiogenic lead isotopic compositions coincides with old graben systems, orogenic belts, and orogenic forelands on the Baltic Shield. The ages of vein deposits and their geographic distribution demonstrate multiple tectonic reactivation of the interior of the Baltic Shield in response to orogenic events at its margin.