Environmental and Health Risk Assessment Due to Potentially Toxic Elements in Soil near Former Antimony Mine in Western Serbia

Snežana Belanović Simić, Predrag Miljković (), Aleksandar Baumgertel, Sara Lukić, Janko Ljubičić and Dragan Čakmak
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Snežana Belanović Simić: Department for Ecological Engineering for Soil and Water Resources Protection, University of Belgrade—Faculty of Forestry, Kneza Višeslava 1, 11030 Belgrade, Serbia
Predrag Miljković: Department for Ecological Engineering for Soil and Water Resources Protection, University of Belgrade—Faculty of Forestry, Kneza Višeslava 1, 11030 Belgrade, Serbia
Aleksandar Baumgertel: Department for Ecological Engineering for Soil and Water Resources Protection, University of Belgrade—Faculty of Forestry, Kneza Višeslava 1, 11030 Belgrade, Serbia
Sara Lukić: Department for Ecological Engineering for Soil and Water Resources Protection, University of Belgrade—Faculty of Forestry, Kneza Višeslava 1, 11030 Belgrade, Serbia
Janko Ljubičić: Department of Forestry and Nature Conservation, University of Belgrade—Faculty of Forestry, Kneza Višeslava 1, 11030 Belgrade, Serbia
Dragan Čakmak: Department of Ecology, Institute for Biological Research “Siniša Stanković”—National Institute of the Republic of Serbia, University of Belgrade, Bulevar Despota Stefana, 142, 11060 Belgrade, Serbia

Land, 2023, vol. 12, issue 2, 1-18

Abstract: Background: Anthropogenic activities have clearly affected the environment, with irreversible and destructive consequences. Mining activities have a significant negative impact, primarily on soil, and then on human health. The negative impact of the first mining activities is represented even today in the soils of those localities. Research shows that, for different types of mines, the concentrations of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) are high, especially in antimony, multi-metal and lead–zinc mines, which have adverse effects on the environment and then on human health and the economy. A large flood in 2014 in Western Serbia resulted in the breaking of the dam of the processed antimony ore dump of the former antimony mine, causing toxic tailings to spill and pollute the downstream area. Due to this accident, tailings material flooded the area downstream of the dump, and severely affected the local agriculture and population. Methods: Potentially toxic elements content, pollution indices and health indices were determined in soil samples from the flooded area, using referenced methodologies. The sources and routes of pollutants and risks were determined and quantified using statistical principal component analysis, positive matrix factorisation, and a Monte Carlo simulation. Results: The main source of As, Cd, Hg, Pb, Sb and Zn in the upper part of the study area was the tailing material. Based on the pollution indices, about 72% of the studied samples show a high risk of contamination and are mainly distributed immediately downstream of the tailings dump that was spilled due to heavy rainfall. Conclusions: Although the content of the PTEs is high, there is no non-carcinogenic risk for any PTEs except As, for which a threshold risk was determined. There is no carcinogenic risk in the study area.

Keywords: health index; non-carcinogenic risk; flooded area; pollution indices; tailing outflow; Monte Carlo simulation; positive matrix factorisation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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