Prediction of Trace Metal Distribution in a Tailings Impoundment Using an Integrated Geophysical and Geochemical Approach (Raibl Mine, Pb-Zn Alpine District, Northern Italy)

Nicolò Barago, Stefano Covelli, Mara Mauri, Sara Oberti di Valnera and Emanuele Forte
Additional contact information
Nicolò Barago: Department of Mathematics & Geoscience, University of Trieste, Via Weiss 2, 34128 Trieste, Italy
Stefano Covelli: Department of Mathematics & Geoscience, University of Trieste, Via Weiss 2, 34128 Trieste, Italy
Mara Mauri: Servizio Disciplina Gestione Rifiuti e siti Inquinati, Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia, Via Carducci 6, 34122 Trieste, Italy
Sara Oberti di Valnera: Servizio Geologico, Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia, Via Sant’Anastasio 3, 34132 Trieste, Italy
Emanuele Forte: Department of Mathematics & Geoscience, University of Trieste, Via Weiss 2, 34128 Trieste, Italy

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 3, 1-16

Abstract: When mines are decommissioned, tailings piles can act as sources of contamination for decades or even centuries. Tailings, which usually contain high concentrations of metals and trace elements, can be reprocessed for a secondary recovery of valuable elements with an innovative approach to a circular economy. This study offers new results for tailings ponds characterisation and chemical content prediction based on an integrated geophysical-geochemical approach. The study of the Raibl Pb-Zn tailings impoundment was done using bulk chemical analysis on borehole samples, Electrical Resistivity Tomography surveys, and Ground Penetrating Radar measurements. We found valuable and statistically significant correlations between the electrical resistivity of the mining impoundments and the metal distribution, thus providing a practical opportunity to characterise large volumes of metal-bearing tailings. In particular, these results can be useful to aid in the development of environmental monitoring programs for remediation purposes or to implement economic secondary recovery plans.

Keywords: electrical resistivity tomography (ERT); tailings impoundment; trace metals; secondary mining; remediation; ground penetrating radar (GPR); geochemical analyses; environmental contamination (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/3/1157/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/3/1157/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:3:p:1157-:d:488768

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().