Toxicity assessment of mine tailings ponds in Transbaikalia

Ore mining operations for more than three hundred years in Transbaikalia have generated huge waste which has an adverse effect on the environment. The goal of this research is to calculate the potential hazard of tailings ponds in gold, molybdenum, complex ore, tin–complex ore, tungsten and rare metal ore mining. The potential hazard calculations use the procedure developed at the All-Russian Scientific-Research Institute of Mineral Resources with regard to concentrations of toxic elements in manmade soil of tailings ponds, crystal abundances, concentrations and lithotoxicity of elements in manmade soil. The composition of elements in the test samples is determined by the X-ray fluorescent analysis at the Geological Institute, SB RAS in Ulan-Ude and by the ISP–MS method at laboratories of SGS Vostok Limited in Chita. The potential hazard assessment used the data on lithotoxicity of elements and on summed concentrations of toxic elements. The research shows that the highest potential environmental hazard arises from tailings ponds in complex ore mining, while the tailings ponds of rare metal ore mining is the least hazardous. Among the first-class toxicity elements in manmade soil of the tailings ponds, arsenic features the highest concentrations. The content of arsenic in manmade soil of complex ore tailings ponds exceeds the average arsenic content of the Earth’s crust by 152–5340 times.

Abramov B. N. Toxicity assessment of mine tailings ponds in Transbaikalia. MIAB. Mining Inf.Anal. Bull.2021;(11):136-145.[InRuss]. DOI:10.25018/0236_1493_2021_11_0_136.

B.N. Abramov, Dr. Sci. (Geol. Mineral.), Leading Researcher, Institute of Natural Resources, Ecology and Cryology, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Chita, 672014, Russia, e-mail: b_abramov@mail.ru.

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