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A MINERALOGICAL ASSESSMENT OF TAILING IMPOUNDMENTS NEAR MARKUSOVCE AND SLOVINKY (SLOVAKIA)

Bronislava Lalinská

Abstract

A detailed study of the weathering products is an important step toward the comprehension of the complex processes opera ting in the environment of mine tailings. The identification of the carriers of the polluta nts is a prerequisite for the assessment of the contamination risk and a remediation or immobilization strategy. In this study, we describe sulfide oxidation processes and the resulting chemical composition of the weathering products within 2 tailing impoundme nts rich in Fe, Ca, Si, Ba and Al. Content of potentially toxic elem ents (such as As, Sb, Zn, Pb and Hg) in tailings is in hundreds of mg/kg. Acidity produced by su lfide decomposition is neutralized by abundant carbonates and the pH values are mostly near-neutral or slightly alkaline. The most common mineral in heavy fraction of tailing material is barite, siderite and hematite are also common. Pyrite is the most frequent sulf ide in the tailings, arsenopyrite, tetrahedrite and chalcopyrite are also present. Cinnabar and copper occur rarely in the samples. In the oxidation zone of the tailings primary minerals are being oxidized. The newly formed secondary minerals have variable chemical composition an d point out that the observed elements (As, Sb, Zn, Pb, Hg, Ca, Fe) are mobile and could be transport within the top layers of the tailings.

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