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Date submitted2023-11-02
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Date accepted2024-09-24
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Date published2025-02-12
Mercury contamination of sediments at Indonesia Ciujung watershed: contribution of artisanal small-scale gold mining
Artisanal small-scale gold mining is the largest artificial source of mercury pollution and has been a very common problem recently. This study examined the contribution of Hg release due to artisanal small-scale gold mining in contaminating the sediment of the watershed in Indonesia. Different from other methods, we measured Hg pollution using the stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen. This report is the first time analytical reports in Indonesia since most papers focus primarily on only detecting heavy metals in river water and sediments, neglecting deep research on Hg pollution and resources. The findings of this study indicate that artisanal and small-scale gold mining activities, located in the upstream areas of the tributaries that act as point sources, are the primary source of mercury in the sediment of the Ciujung watershed. The isotopes δ13C and δ15N successfully trace the Hg-contaminated sediment in the Ciujung watershed derived from the Cisimeut and Ciberang Rivers based on soil organic matter. The biological effect showed the Hg concentration in most of the sampling sites exceeded the Effects-range medium and Probable effect limit values. The Risk quotient values of Hg indicated the Hg pollution had a possibility effect on the benthic organism. Several limitations have also been added in this study and needs for further investigation.
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Date submitted2022-11-02
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Date accepted2023-03-02
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Date published2023-04-25
Environmental damage from the storage of sulfide ore tailings
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.
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Date submitted2021-02-24
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Date accepted2022-04-06
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Date published2022-07-13
Study of the kinetics of the process of producing pellets from red mud in a hydrogen flow
The reduction kinetics of serial phase transitions of iron oxides during reduction to a metallized state with different modes of technical hydrogen supply has been studied and substantiated. The results of the pellets formation when 3-5 % molasses is added to the red mud as a binding reagent are presented. The dependences of the reduction rate of iron oxides on the hydrogen flow rate are obtained. Based on the results of the experiments, a kinetic model was constructed, and with the help of X-ray phase and spectral analysis, it was proved that the agglomerates formed after heat treatment received high strength due to the adhesion of reduced iron particles with red mud particles. The use of a new type of charge materials in melting units will reduce the amount of emissions and dust fractions, as well as increase the metal yield.
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Date submitted2022-01-24
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Date accepted2022-04-26
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Date published2023-04-25
Forecast of radionuclide migration in groundwater of the zone affected by construction drainage at the Leningrad NPP-2
The distribution of natural (at the level of global background) and technogenic radionuclides in groundwater of the industrial zone in Sosnovy Bor town, where several nuclear power facilities are operating, was analyzed. The main technogenic radionuclides recorded in groundwater samples are cesium ( 137 Cs), strontium ( 90 Sr), and tritium isotopes. The first two aquifers from the surface are subject to contamination: the Quaternary and the upper zone of the Lomonosov aquifer. Based on extensive material on the engineering and geological studies of the work area, a 3D geological model and hydrodynamic and geomigration models of the industrial zone were constructed. By means of modeling, the extent and nature of changes in hydrogeological conditions of area resulting from the construction and operational drainage of the new stage of the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant (LNPP-2) were determined. The “historical” halo of radioactive contamination of groundwater forming (1970-1990) at the site adjacent to the NPP, where the storage facility of low- and medium-level radioactive waste is located, falls into the zone of influence. Interpretation of monitoring data allowed obtaining the migration parameters for predictive estimates. Modeling has shown that during the time of the LNPP-2 operation there was no intake of contaminated water by the drainage system of the new power plant.
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Date submitted2020-09-15
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Date accepted2021-11-30
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Date published2021-12-27
Evaluating the effectiveness of fine gold extraction technologies on the example of titanomagnetite beach placers of the western coast of Kamchatka
- Authors:
- Valentina E. Kungurova
The material on the gold content of coastal-marine deposits of the western coast of Kamchatka is analyzed and the resource potential is briefly characterized. A review of gold technological estimates obtained from the study of gold-bearing samples taken in promising areas of the coastal-marine strip, from the Bolshaya Vorovskaya River in the north to Cape Levashova in the south, is presented. Stock materials supplemented by our studies were used. Gold-bearing deposits with very fine (0.05-0.1 mm) and fine (0.1-1.0 mm) gold amounting to 94.6 % were tested, as well as samples with gold up to 2 mm and more in addition to fine gold The content of freely recoverable gold reached 91.9 %. In the case of significant gold reserves in placers, prospects for their commercial development open up. experiments on the enrichment of gold-bearing coastal-marine deposits of Western Kamchatka indicate the possibility of extraction of free gold and other valuable components from them. Gravity technologies and modern equipment developed by ОАО Irgiredmet and JSC ITOMAK are the most effective for their extraction. enrichment of gold-bearing formations with simultaneous extraction of several useful components from them, which is possible with the use of fluoride technology, can also become economically advantageous.
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Date submitted2020-06-14
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Date accepted2020-06-14
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Date published2020-06-30
Geochemical approach in assessing the technogenic impact on soils
- Authors:
- Galina I. Sarapulova
The soil assessment was carried out in the technogenically-affected area of Irkutsk Oblast with the geochemical approach as a key geoecological method using physical and chemical techniques of analysis and ecodiagnostics. Diagnostic signs of the disturbed natural properties of the soil were revealed up to a depth of 40 cm in the profile based on macro- and micromorphometric parameters. The content of heavy metals (HM) – Pb, Zn, Hg, and Cu with an excess of standards was determined, and empirical HM – pH correlations were obtained by statistical clustering of the data array. The contributions of additional factors affecting the chemical element distribution in the soil layer were investigated. Significant soil contamination with sulfates and the possibility of implementing the ion-exchange of HM andfor element immobilization were revealed. It was shown that reactions with sulfates and the influence of pH, HM exchange processes involving mobile K and P can determine the nature of the described chemical element distribution in the multi-factor-contaminated technogenic soil. However, the effectiveness of such types of interaction is different for each metal and also depends on the quantitative ratio of substances and soil characteristics, even under a minor change in pH. Two-parameter correlations of HM distribution in sulfate-contaminated soils confirmed the different degrees of involvement of chemical elements in these types of interactions. The results obtained and the identified factors are of applied significance and can be used as the basis for geoecological differentiation of the contaminated soil, as well as for determining local geochemical fields in the technogenesis zone. Areas of advanced research are related to three-dimensional modeling for a more complete study of the cause-and-effect relationships of geochemical parameters.
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Date submitted2014-11-01
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Date accepted2015-01-02
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Date published2015-10-26
Development of an environmentally safe gold extraction method from refractory ores using sodium thiosulfate as an extractant
- Authors:
- Yu. V. Sharikov
- Ilkka Turunen
The article presents the results of a mathematical model development for the process of gold leaching from gold-containing ores and concentrates. A mathematical model has been developed by analyzing the chemistry of reactions and mass transfer processes. On the base of a kinetic extraction model and a hydrodynamic complete mixing model a mathematical model of thiosulfate leaching process in various types batch reactors, complete mixing flow process vessels and complete mixing reactor columns with different numbers of vessels in a column has been developed. The effect of the number of reactors in a column has been investigated and optimal segmentation conditions have been found. Based on the investigation of the process using the mathematical model a control system structure has been designed to provide maximum conversion at the exit area of a reactor column.
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Date submitted2014-10-27
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Date accepted2014-12-21
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Date published2015-08-25
Productivity of ore and placer gold deposits of the priamur province
- Authors:
- V. A. Stepanov
- A. V. Melnikov
The article discusses ore and placer gold deposits of the Priamur province formed as a result of the Late Mesozoic collisions of geoblocks of the south-eastern framing of the Siberian craton and the Amur composite massif. Metallogenic zoning of the province displaying metallogenic zones and ore-placer sites is described. The article shows that the Priamur province is one of the main gold-bearing provinces of Russia with the level of gold ore (about 180 tons) and placer (about 1132 tons) gold. The predominance of placer gold in gold mining indicates significant opportunities to identify new gold deposits.
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Date submitted2010-07-28
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Date accepted2010-09-18
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Date published2011-03-21
Assessment of alluvial gold-bearing raw materials from the permafrost zone for justification of combined geotechnology of gold heap leaching
- Authors:
- S. B. Tataurov
The paper presents results of cryogenetic impact on mineral composition and geotechnological properties of alluvial gold-bearing raw materials of natural and man-made origin. In particular, distinctive features in mineral composition of alluvial deposits are described within the permafrost zone and outside it as well as the nature, mechanisms and peculiar features in reduction of man-made gold amalgams are shown. The results obtained were used to justify the expediency of implementation of the combined heap gold ore leaching technology at alluvial deposits in the permafrost zone, which includes preliminary concentration of coarse, medium and fine gold as well as the gold amalgam.
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Date submitted2008-10-06
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Date accepted2008-12-10
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Date published2009-12-11
Appearance of entropy principle in distribution оf the gold mass while formation of minable gold mineralization
- Authors:
- S. V. Sendek
The rule of the entropy distributiveness for mass of the metal in gold ores is detected at different scale levels. This regularity is resulted as a consequence of redistribution of the gold and host rocks after their primary conditions. Revealing of those rules may allow reviewing the notions on nature and genesis of gold mineralizaition.