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High levels of activity of bats at gold mining water bodies: implications for compliance with the International Cyanide Management Code

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Abstract

Wildlife and livestock are known to visit and interact with tailings dam and other wastewater impoundments at gold mines. When cyanide concentrations within these water bodies exceed a critical toxicity threshold, significant cyanide-related mortality events can occur in wildlife. Highly mobile taxa such as birds are particularly susceptible to cyanide toxicosis. Nocturnally active bats have similar access to uncovered wastewater impoundments as birds; however, cyanide toxicosis risks to bats remain ambiguous. This study investigated activity of bats in the airspace above two water bodies at an Australian gold mine, to assess the extent to which bats use these water bodies and hence are at potential risk of exposure to cyanide. Bat activity was present on most nights sampled during the 16-month survey period, although it was highly variable across nights and months. Therefore, despite the artificial nature of wastewater impoundments at gold mines, these structures present attractive habitats to bats. As tailings slurry and supernatant pooling within the tailings dam were consistently well below the industry protective concentration limit of 50 mg/L weak acid dissociable (WAD) cyanide, wastewater solutions stored within the tailings dam posed a minimal risk of cyanide toxicosis for wildlife, including bats. This study showed that passively recorded bat echolocation call data provides evidence of the presence and relative activity of bats above water bodies at mine sites. Furthermore, echolocation buzz calls recorded in the airspace directly above water provide indirect evidence of foraging and/or drinking. Both echolocation monitoring and systematic sampling of cyanide concentration in open wastewater impoundments can be incorporated into a gold mine risk-assessment model in order to evaluate the risk of bat exposure to cyanide. In relation to risk minimisation management practices, the most effective mechanism for preventing cyanide toxicosis to wildlife, including bats, is capping the concentration of cyanide in tailings discharged to open impoundments at 50 mg/L WAD.

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Abbreviations

CGM:

Cowal Gold Mine

ICMI:

International Cyanide Management Institute

LD50 :

Lethal dose at 50 %

NSW:

New South Wales

WAD:

Weak acid dissociable

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the CGM Environment Department personnel for logistical assistance during fieldwork. Financial support for this study was provided by Barrick Gold Corporation’s CGM and a Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment to SRG. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, 3010, Australia

    Stephen R. Griffiths & Graeme Coulson

  2. Donato Environmental Services, Athelstone, SA, 5076, Australia

    David B. Donato

  3. Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research, Department of Environment and Primary Industries, Heidelberg, VIC, 3084, Australia

    Linda F. Lumsden

Authors
  1. Stephen R. Griffiths
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  2. David B. Donato
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  3. Graeme Coulson
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  4. Linda F. Lumsden
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Correspondence to Stephen R. Griffiths.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

Highlights

• Wastewater impoundments at gold mines present attractive habitats to bats.

• Echolocation calls provide empirical evidence of bat activity above water bodies.

• Buzz calls recorded above water provide indirect evidence of bats foraging and/or drinking.

• This study highlights the importance of developing site-specific bat monitoring protocols for compliance with the Cyanide Code.

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Table S1

Bat species found in the West Wyalong region, New South Wales: echolocation characteristics, presence recorded at the Cowal Gold Mine tailings dam and freshwater farm dam during monthly surveys from April 2006 to May 2012. Species distributions from Churchill (2008) and on advice from Pennay (Australasian Bat Society Inc.). Echolocation call characteristics and frequency range (AnalookW characteristic frequency) from Pennay et al. (2004). (DOCX 22 kb)

Fig. S1

Mean (±s.e.) number of echolocation call sequences per night detected each hour after civil twilight at the tailings dam and farm dam: a spring, b summer, c autumn and d winter. Data are from 212 matched nights recording from February 2011 to May 2012, comprising a total of 25,022 and 17,829 call sequences at the tailings dam and farm dam, respectively. During spring and summer, dawn occurs in the 9th and 10th hours after civil twilight; whereas in autumn and winter, it occurs in the 11th and 12th hours. (XLSX 23 kb)

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Griffiths, S.R., Donato, D.B., Coulson, G. et al. High levels of activity of bats at gold mining water bodies: implications for compliance with the International Cyanide Management Code. Environ Sci Pollut Res 21, 7263–7275 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-2651-z

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