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Acid Mine Drainage and Heavy Metal Pollution from Solid Waste in the Tongling Mines, China
Author(s) -
Xiaochun XU,
Qiaoqin XIE,
Fang CHEN,
Jun WANG,
Wentao WU
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
acta geologica sinica ‐ english edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.444
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1755-6724
pISSN - 1000-9515
DOI - 10.1111/j.1755-6724.2008.tb00333.x
Subject(s) - tailings , acid mine drainage , pyrite , mining engineering , environmental science , pollution , municipal solid waste , heavy metals , geology , environmental chemistry , waste management , geochemistry , metallurgy , chemistry , materials science , ecology , engineering , biology
Based on investigation of the characteristics of solid waste of two different mines, the Fenghuangshan copper mine and the Xinqiao pyrite mine in Tongling, Anhui province in central‐east China, the possibility and the differences of acid mine drainage (AMD) of the tailings and the waste rocks are discussed, and the modes of occurrence of heavy metal elements in the mine solid waste are also studied. The Fenghuangshan copper mine hardly produces AMD, whereas the Xinqiao pyrite mine does and there are also differences in the modes of occurrence of heavy metal elements in the tailings. For the former, toxic heavy metals such as Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd, As and Hg exist mostly in the slag mode, as compared to the latter, where the deoxidization mode has a much higher content, indicating that large amounts minerals in the waste rocks have begun to oxidize at the earth surface. AMD is proved to promote the migration and spread of the heavy metals in mining waste rocks and lead to environmental pollution of the surroundings of the mine area.