scholarly journals Total and Leached Arsenic, Mercury and Antimony in the Mining Waste Dumping Area of Abbadia San Salvatore (Mt. Amiata, Central Italy)

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (17) ◽  
pp. 7893
Author(s):  
Federica Meloni ◽  
Giordano Montegrossi ◽  
Marta Lazzaroni ◽  
Daniele Rappuoli ◽  
Barbara Nisi ◽  
...  

Total and leached Arsenic, Mercury and Antimony were determined in the topsoils developed on the mining waste dumping area of Le Lame (Mt. Amiata, central Italy) where the post-processing Hg-rich ore deposits from the mining area of Abbadia San Salvatore were stored. The concentrations of As, Hg and Sb were up to 610, 1910 and 1610 mg kg−1, respectively, while those in the leachates (carried out with CO2-saturated MilliQ water to simulate the meteoric water conditions) were up to 102, 7 and 661 μg·L−1, respectively. Most aqueous solutions were characterized by Hg content <0.1 μg·L−1. This is likely suggesting that the mine wastes (locally named “rosticci”) were possibly resulting from an efficient roasting process that favored either the removal or inertization of Hg operated by the Gould furnaces and located in the southern sector of Le Lame. The highest values of total and leachate mercury were indeed mostly found in the northern portion where the “rosticci”, derived by the less efficient and older Spirek-Cermak furnaces, was accumulated. The saturation index was positive for the great majority of leachate samples in Fe-oxy-hydroxides, e.g., ferrihydrite, hematite, magnetite, goethite, and Al-hydroxides (boehmite and gibbsite). On the other hand, As- and Hg-compounds were shown to be systematically undersaturated, whereas oversaturation in tripuhyte (FeSbO4) and romeite (Ca2Sb2O7) was evidenced. The Eh-pH diagrams for the three chalcophile elements were also constructed and computed and updated according to the recent literature data.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (15) ◽  
pp. 6982
Author(s):  
Chiara Ferronato ◽  
Gilmo Vianello ◽  
Mauro De Feudis ◽  
Livia Vittori Antisari

The study of Technosols development, spatial distribution and physicochemical characteristics is becoming more and more important in the Anthropocene Era. The aim of the present study was to assess soil features and potential heavy metal release risk of soils developed on different mine tailing types after the waste disposal derived from mining activity in Central Italy. Soils were analyzed for their morphological, physical and chemical properties, and a chemical sequential extraction of heavy metals was performed. The investigated soils were classified as Technosols toxic having in some layer within 50 cm of the soil surface inorganic materials with high concentrations of toxic elements. Our findings showed that the bioavailability of potentially toxic element concentrations in the soil changed according to the origin of the mine tailing. However, because of the acidic pH, there is a serious risk of metals leaching which was reduced where the soil organic matter content was higher.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Arán ◽  
Erika Santos ◽  
Maria Manuela Abreu ◽  
Juan Antelo ◽  
Felipe Macías

&lt;p&gt;The uranium mineralization from F&amp;#233; mining area (Spain) contains sulfides, resulting mine wastes generators of acid mine drainage rich in potentially hazardous elements (PHE). The improvement of the physicochemical characteristics and biogeochemical processes of sulfide mine tailings as well as their socioeconomic valorisation can be achieved by the application of a green technology based on circular economy: Technosol. The efficiency of the application of a superficial layer of a designed Technosol with specific properties to the rehabilitation of the sulfide tailings from F&amp;#233; mining area was tested. Also, the risk assessment of the land recovery by this technology to pasture was evaluated through a microcosm experiment.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;After 20 months of the Technosol application in the field, composite samples of Technosol, recovered tailing (bottom of the Technosol) and tailings without recuperation (control tailing) were collected. These samples were used for microcosm assay and characterized for pH, electric conductivity, fertility, PHEs concentration in total fraction and available fraction extracted with rhizosphere-based method. The substrate effect on development of &lt;em&gt;Lollium perenne&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Trifolium pratense&lt;/em&gt; (visual signs of phytotoxity, percentage of plant cover and dry shoots biomass) and multielemental composition in their of shoots was evaluated in microcosm assay under greenhouse conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Mine wastes from control tailing had pH &amp;#8776;4 and high total concentrations of several PHEs (g/kg; Al: 46.2; As, Co and Pb: 0.02-0.03; Cu: 0.04; Fe: 63.2 Mn: 1.3; Ni and Zn: 0.1-0.2). Potentially toxic concentrations of Co, Mn and Ni were identified in the available fraction pointing out the serious environmental risk posed by the control tailing. These chemical characteristics together lack of structure iin mine wastes from control tailing contributed to total inhibition of Trifolium germination and a significant diminution of Lollium growth. Both species growing in Technosol and recovered tailing produced significant plant cover and quite similar amounts of shoot biomass.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The improvement of the overall physicochemical properties in the recovered tailing materials (e.g. the decrease of the hazardous element concentrations in available fraction, and the improvement of the fertility and structure) allowed a quick and secure plant cover with pasture species. The results evidenced the efficiency of the designed Technosol in the sulfide mine tailing rehabilitation and potential land recovery to pastures.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The authors thank ENUSA for technical cooperation and providing the study area and soil samples.&lt;/p&gt;


2001 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 427-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen E Grasby ◽  
Ian Hutcheon

Thermal springs examined in southern British Columbia are restricted to six major Eocene or later brittle fault systems. These faults provide a high-permeability flow path that allows for deep circulation of meteoric water. The depth of circulation, and thus temperature, is largely influenced by fault plane geometry. Calculated circulation depths of up to 4.8 km are consistent with models for hydrothermal ore deposits that invoke the mixing of mineralizing fluids with sulphur-rich meteoric water at depth. Mass-flux calculations indicate that a relatively small spring (5 L/s) can transport large amounts of bacterially reduced sulphur to ore-forming depths over a short geological time scale and can easily account for the sulphur associated with Pb–Zn deposits in the southern Canadian Cordillera. Modern thermal springs may be good analogies for the upper-crustal flow systems in hydrothermal ore deposit models.


2012 ◽  
Vol 616-618 ◽  
pp. 185-189
Author(s):  
Dao Qing Zhou ◽  
Zheng Guo Fan ◽  
Lin Tan ◽  
Xu Zhao Huang ◽  
Bao Bao Cao ◽  
...  

The iron belt of northern Hebei and Shanxi provinces to western Liaoning province locates in great geological conditions and hosts various types iron mines, so the prospecting potential is huge. The found iron ore with industrial value have sedimentary metamorphic mines with large scale, and followed by magmatic, sedimentary, and contact-metasomatic ore deposits, etc. The iron mineralization of different types is great affiliated with the geotectonic environment of different geological periods, sedimentation, magmatic conditions, that behaviors different mineralization types corresponding to different geological periods in time, behaviors different iron mining area corresponding to different structural location in the space, consists of the iron metallogenic series coupled to the different time and the different genetic types in North China. Based on the analysis to the distribution regularity, ore-controlling factors and metallogenic series of iron mine, we deeped the regional ore-controlling geological condition and metallogenic regularity of iron ore, provided important reference information for regional exploration.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 1507 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Mura ◽  
Fábio Gama ◽  
Waldir Paradella ◽  
Priscila Negrão ◽  
Samuel Carneiro ◽  
...  

The Fundão tailings dam in the Germano iron mining complex (Mariana, Brazil) collapsed on the afternoon of 5 November 2015, and around 32.6 million cubic meters of mining waste spilled from the dam, causing polluion with mining waste along a trajectory of 668 km, extending to the Atlantic Ocean. The Sela & Tulipa and Selinha dikes, and the main Germano tailings dam, were directly or indirectly affected by the accident. This work presents an investigation using Advanced-Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (A-DInSAR) techniques for risk assessment in these critical structures during 18 months after the catastrophic event. The approach was based on the integration of SBAS (Small Baseline Subset) and PSI (Persistent Scatterer Interferometry) techniques, aiming at detecting linear and nonlinear ground displacements in these mining structures. It used a set of 48 TerraSAR-X images acquired on ascending mode from 11 November 2015 to 15 May 2017. The results provided by the A-DInSAR analysis indicated an overall stability in the dikes and in the main wall of Germano tailings dam, which is in agreement with in situ topographic monitoring. In addition, it was possible to detect areas within the reservoir showing accumulated values of up to −125 mm of subsidence, probably caused by settlements of the waste dry material due to the interruption of the mining waste deposition, and values up to −80 mm on auxiliary dikes, probably caused by continuous traffic of heavy equipment. The spatiotemporal information of surface displacement of this large mining structure can be used for future operational planning and risk control.


2019 ◽  
Vol 114 (7) ◽  
pp. 1415-1442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christophe Scheffer ◽  
Alexandre Tarantola ◽  
Olivier Vanderhaeghe ◽  
Panagiotis Voudouris ◽  
Paul G. Spry ◽  
...  

Abstract The formation of ore deposits in the Lavrion Pb-Zn-Ag district was associated with Miocene detachment that accommodated orogenic collapse and exhumation of high-grade nappes across the ductile-brittle transition. This district consists of (1) low-grade porphyry Mo style, (2) Cu-Fe skarn, (3) high-temperature carbonate replacement Pb-Zn-Ag, and (4) vein and breccia Pb-Zn-Ag mineralization. The vein and breccia mineralization locally contains high-grade silver in base metal sulfides that are cemented by fluorite and carbonate gangue. The rare earth element contents of these gangue minerals, chondrite-normalized patterns, and fluid inclusion studies suggest that they precipitated from a low-temperature hydrothermal fluid. Primary and pseudosecondary fluid inclusions in fluorite and calcite are characterized by a wide range of homogenization temperatures (92°–207°C) and salinities of up to 17.1 wt % NaCl equiv. Secondary fluid inclusions only represent <5 vol % of the total fluid trapped. Fluids extracted from inclusions in fluorite have values of δD = –82.1 to –47.7‰ (Vienna-standard mean ocean water [V-SMOW]) and δ18O = –10.4 to –5.1‰ (V-SMOW). These data and low ratios of Cl/Br measured by crush-leach analyses for fluids in fluorite (102–315) and calcite (162–188) are compatible with the ore fluid being the result of mixing of meteoric water with evaporated seawater. These data suggest that fluids leading to the deposition of late Pb-Zn-Ag–rich vein- and breccia-style mineralization in Lavrion were related to circulation of mixed evaporated seawater and meteoric fluids that was enhanced by brittle deformation. This contrasts with the fluids of magmatic origin related to the formation of low-grade porphyry Mo, Cu-Fe skarn, and high-temperature carbonate replacement deposits spatially related to the Plaka granodiorite.


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