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Geochemical distribution of trace element concentrations in the vicinity of Boroo gold mine, Selenge Province, Mongolia

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Abstract

The environmental impacts of Boroo gold mine project in Mongolia was evaluated by chemical characterization of trace element concentrations in water, soils and tailing dam sediment samples. The results showed that concentrations of B, Cd, Ni and Se in the water samples were within the accepted levels of the Mongolia water quality standard (MNS4586: 1998). However, the concentrations of Al, As, Cu, Mn, Fe, Pb, U and Zn were higher than the maximum allowable concentration especially in the monitoring and heap leach wells. The average concentrations of As, Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn in the tailing dam sediment were 4419, 58.5, 56.0, 4.8, 20.6 and 25.7 mg/kg, respectively. Generally, arsenic and heavy metals in the soil samples were within the acceptable concentrations of the soil standard of Mongolia (MNS 5850: 2008). The chemical characterization of As solid phase in tailing dam sediment showed that the majority of As were found in the residual fraction comprising about 74% of total As. Assessing the potential risk to humans, simple bioavailability extraction test was used to estimate bioavailability of arsenic and heavy metals, and the concentrations extracted from tailing dam sediment were; 288.2 mg/kg As, 7.2 mg/kg Cd, 41.1 mg/kg Cu, 13.5 mg/kg Pb, 4.7 mg/kg Ni and 23.5 mg/kg Zn, respectively. From these results, the Boroo gold mine project has presently not significantly impacted the environment, but there is a high probability that it may act as a source of future contamination.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by United Nations University (UNU) and Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) Joint Programme on Science and Technology for Sustainability.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Environmental Research Center, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju, Korea

    Edu Inam & Supawan Khantotong

  2. School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju, Korea

    Kyoung-Woong Kim

  3. The Ministry of Nature, Environment and Tourism, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

    Bulgan Tumendemberel & Sugar Erdenetsetseg

  4. Central Laboratory of Environment and Metrology, National Agency for Meteorology and Environmental Monitoring, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

    Tamir Puntsag

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  1. Edu Inam
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  2. Supawan Khantotong
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  3. Kyoung-Woong Kim
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  4. Bulgan Tumendemberel
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  5. Sugar Erdenetsetseg
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Correspondence to Kyoung-Woong Kim.

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Inam, E., Khantotong, S., Kim, KW. et al. Geochemical distribution of trace element concentrations in the vicinity of Boroo gold mine, Selenge Province, Mongolia. Environ Geochem Health 33 (Suppl 1), 57–69 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-010-9347-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-010-9347-1

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