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Arsenic mobility in weathered gold mine tailings under a low-organic soil cover

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Abstract

Historical gold mining operations in Nova Scotia, Canada, resulted in numerous deposits of publicly accessible, arsenic (As)-rich mine waste that has weathered in situ for 75–150 years, resulting in a wide range of As-bearing secondary minerals. The geochemical heterogeneity of this mine waste creates a challenge for identifying a single remediation approach that will limit As mobility. A 30-cm-thick, low-organic content soil cover was evaluated in a laboratory leaching experiment where, to simulate natural conditions, the equivalent of 2 years of synthetic rainwater was leached through each column and two dry seasons were incorporated into the leaching protocol. Each column was a stratigraphic representation of the four major tailings types found at the historical Montague and Goldenville gold mine districts: hardpan tailings, oxic tailings, wetland tailings, and high Ca tailings. Hardpan tailings released acidic, As-rich waters (max 12 mg/L) under the soil cover but this acidity was buffered by surrounding oxic tailings. Leachate from the oxic tailings was circumneutral, with average As concentrations between 4.4 and 9.7 mg/L throughout the experiment. The presence of carbonates in the high Ca tailings resulted in near-neutral to weakly alkaline leachate pH values and average As concentrations between 2.1 and 6.1 mg/L. Oxidation of sulfides in the wetland tailings led to acidic leachate over time and a decrease in As concentrations to values that were generally less than 1 mg/L. This study shows that the use of a low-organic content soil cover does not create reducing conditions that would destabilize oxidized, As-bearing secondary phases in these tailings. However, oxygen penetration through the cover during dry seasons would continue to release As to tailings pore waters via sulfide oxidation reactions.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the three reviewers who offered helpful comments that improved this manuscript. We appreciate field assistance from Cirisse Stephen and Matt Corriveau and analytical assistance from Mary Andrews (ASU, Queen’s University) and Bill LeBlanc (GSC-Atlantic). This project was initially made possible through financial support from the NSERC Metals in the Human–Environment Strategic Network (MITHE-SN) with subsequent funding by NSERC Strategic Grant (364927) to Heather Jamieson, Michael Parsons, Dirk Wallschläger, Danielle Fortin, and Kerry Rowe. Partial funding for the study was also provided through the Environmental Geoscience Program (2009–2014) of the Earth Sciences Sector at Natural Resources Canada. This is contribution number 20170113 of Natural Resources Canada.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, K7L 3N6, Canada

    Stephanie L. DeSisto & Heather E. Jamieson

  2. Natural Resources Canada, Geological Survey of Canada (Atlantic), 1 Challenger Drive, Dartmouth, NS, B2Y 4A2, Canada

    Michael B. Parsons

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  1. Stephanie L. DeSisto
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Correspondence to Stephanie L. DeSisto.

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DeSisto, S.L., Jamieson, H.E. & Parsons, M.B. Arsenic mobility in weathered gold mine tailings under a low-organic soil cover. Environ Earth Sci 76, 773 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-017-7041-7

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