Characteristics of tailings from metal mines inHunan Province, China

【Abstract】 The tailing soils were from 10 mining areas in Hunan Province. To predict the potential impact of tailings on nearby environments, the characteristics such as the pH value, loss on ignition, cation exchange capacity, and the concentration and speciation of heavy metals in the tailings were investigated. Based on these characteristics, the pollution index and danger index were calculated so as to evaluate the priorities of remediation. The results show that the concentrations of Pb, Cd, Cu and Zn exceed the tolerable levels of the phytotoxicity in the most tailings. The large proportion of heavy metals exists in the form of residual fraction in most tailings, followed by sulfides/organic and Fe/Mn oxide fractions, and a little in the exchangeable and carbonate fraction. The calculated pollution indices for the tailing samples range from 1.41 to 83.42, which indicates that all the tailings contain heavy metals at a level that causes toxicity to the ecosystem. The danger indices for the tailing samples range from 0.06 to 387.00. The highest value of the danger indices is that of Yongzhou sample, reaching 387.00; the lowest one is that of Xikuangshan sample, only 0.06. Considering the results of pollution index and danger index in combination, the priority of remediation is determined to be Yongzhou, Baoshan, Xiangtan and Lengshuijiang.更多还原