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Alexey V. Alekseenko
Alexey V. Alekseenko
Adjunct Professor, Ph.D.
United Nations University, Institute for Integrated Management of Material Fluxes and of Resources
Adjunct Professor, Ph.D.
United Nations University, Institute for Integrated Management of Material Fluxes and of Resources
569
Total cited
14
Hirsch index

Articles

Geotechnical Engineering and Engineering Geology
  • Date submitted
    2022-11-02
  • Date accepted
    2023-03-02
  • Online publication date
    2023-04-13
  • Date published
    2023-04-25

Environmental damage from the storage of sulfide ore tailings

Article preview

The mining industry is one of the most challenging in ensuring environmental safety. During the last century, the Karabash Copper Smelting Plant was processing sulfide ores and depositing the tailings into storage facilities that now occupy an area of more than 50 hectares. To date, abandoned tailings are a significant source of natural water, air, and soil pollution in the Karabash city district. The article comprehensively examines the environmental impact of the Karabashmed copper smelter, one of the oldest metallurgical enterprises in Russia. The effects of seepage from the two Karabashmed tailings facilities on water resources were assessed. We revealed that even outside the area of the direct impact of processing waste, the pH of natural water decreases to values 4-5. Further downstream, the infiltration water from the tailings pond No. 4 reduces the pH of river water to 3.0-3.5. The presented results of environmental engineering surveys are derived from sampling water and bottom sediments of the Ryzhiy Stream and the Sak-Elga River, sample preparation, and quantitative chemical analysis. The study revealed significant exceedances of the maximum permissible concentrations for a number of chemical elements in the impact zone of the copper ore processing tailings.

How to cite: Pashkevich M.A., Alekseenko A.V., Nureev R.R. Environmental damage from the storage of sulfide ore tailings // Journal of Mining Institute. 2023. Vol. 260. p. 155-167. DOI: 10.31897/PMI.2023.32
Geoecology and occupational health and safety
  • Date submitted
    2020-01-10
  • Date accepted
    2020-01-14
  • Date published
    2020-02-25

Biogeochemical assessment of soils and plants in industrial, residential and recreational areas of Saint Petersburg

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Soils and plants of Saint Petersburg are under the constant technogenic stress caused by human activity in industrial, residential, and recreational landscapes of the city. To assess the transformed landscapes of various functional zones, we studied utility, housing, and park districts with a total area of over 7,000 hectares in the southern part of the city during the summer seasons of 2016-2018. Throughout the fieldwork period, 796 individual pairs of soil and plant samples were collected. A complex of consequent laboratory studies performed in an accredited laboratory allowed the characterization of key biogeochemical patterns of urban regolith specimens and herbage samples of various grasses. Chemical analyses provided information on the concentrations of polluting metals in soils and plants of different land use zones. Data interpretation and calculation of element accumulation factors revealed areas with the most unfavorable environmental conditions. We believe that a high pollution level in southern city districts has led to a significant degree of physical, chemical, and biological degradation of the soil and vegetation cover. As of today, approximately 10 % of the Technosols in the study area have completely lost the ability to biological self-revitalization, which results in ecosystem malfunction and the urgent need for land remediation.    

How to cite: Pashkevich M.A., Bech J., Matveeva V.A., Alekseenko A.V. Biogeochemical assessment of soils and plants in industrial, residential and recreational areas of Saint Petersburg // Journal of Mining Institute. 2020. Vol. 241. p. 125. DOI: 10.31897/PMI.2020.1.125