The Environmental Threats of Water and Soil Surrounding the Mine

Dear Colleagues,

In mining areas, ore exploitation may generate an important source of contamination in surface waters, groundwater, and soils located in the vicinity of the main mine-waste impoundments. The main consequences of unremediated mine sites containing sulfide minerals, mainly pyrite and/or pyrrhotite, are the generation of acidic mine drainage waters and the possible mobilization of metals and metalloids. Depending on the neutralization capacity of the mining wastes, tailings, and ore host rocks, the production of mine waters may be of environmental concern. The geochemistry of the mineral-water interaction is dependent on the ore and gangue minerals, local water chemistry, and geologic setting, and some authors have shown the relationship between the types of mineral deposits and their environmental signature.

Also, mineral deposits hosted by carbonate sedimentary rocks tend to have mine-drainage water compositions with near-neutral pH; elevated concentrations of dissolved SO₄^2-, Fe, Zn, As, Sb and Tl may be generated under these conditions. The neutral pH conditions of these waters may be attributed to the dissolution of acid-consuming carbonate minerals associated with carbonate gangue or host rocks.  In some situations, precipitation of jarosite, gypsum, goethite, Fe oxy-hydroxides, siderite and other secondary phases control Ca, Fe, Na, K, SO₄^2- and trace element concentrations. Even when carbonate rocks host the affected aquifers, the near-neutral groundwater may show high dissolved concentrations of As, Fe, Ni, SO₄^2-, Zn, Cd and Pb.

Scope and Purpose

The main objectives of this Special Issue are to evaluate metal mobilization and release of toxic elements from mine wastes and mine waters in mining areas from soil, groundwater, sediment and surface water data. Also conducting tests both in the laboratory (leaching tests) and in the field may be an interesting approach in order to evaluate the mobility of contaminants. In addition, geochemical modeling used in order to evaluate the geochemical processes is of great interest since it may explain the geochemistry of mine water, groundwater and leachates, and the relationship with the mineralogical characteristics of the main mine waste impoundments.

Dr. Andrés Navarro
Guest Editor

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• mine water
• mine wastes
• contaminated soils
• metal mobility
• geochemistry
• modeling