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Geochemical distribution of selected elements in flotation tailings and soils/sediments from the dam spill at the abandoned antimony mine Stolice, Serbia

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Abstract

Materials held within mine tailings pose a serious risk to the environment in cases of tailings dam failure. Collapse of the tailing dam at the Stolice antimony mine in West Serbia caused a spilling of tailing slurry into the nearby river watersheds. Medium-term effects of As, Pb, Sb, Zn, and Cd from the tailings material that remained in the flooded zone 3 years after the initial exposure were evaluated. Mobility of these elements was determined by analyzing their distribution between exchangeable, reducible, oxidizable, and residual phases. Results indicate that Fe-Mn oxides represent important sinks for As, Cd, Pb, and Sb. Multivariate statistical analysis revealed that concentrations of the analyzed elements were related to sand-sized fractions, as they tended to adsorb or co-precipitate as coatings on larger particles (particularly feldspar and quartz) upon the change of redox conditions. Assessment of the most relevant physico-chemical factors, metal(loid) concentration, and mobility can be used as tool to characterize the degree of contamination of impacted sites. Percentage of sand-sized particles, content of investigated metal(loid)s, and their amount in the reducible fractions are factors determining the best remediation techniques for the area impacted by tailing spill.

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Acknowledgments

We are thankful to the Jaroslav Černi Institute for the Development of Water Resources for providing us with MSS and control material.

Funding

This study was supported by the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science, and Technological Development (project numbers 176016, 172030, 176006).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Technology of Nuclear and Other Mineral Raw Materials, Franchet d’Esperey 86, Belgrade, 11000, Serbia

    Dragana Ranđelović

  2. University of Belgrade, Faculty of Chemistry, Studentski trg 12-16, Belgrade, 11000, Serbia

    Jelena Mutić & Tamara Đorđević

  3. Institute for the Development of Water Resources “Jaroslav Černi”, University of Belgrade, Jaroslava Černog 80, Belgrade, 11000, Serbia

    Prvoslav Marjanović

  4. University of Belgrade, Institute of Chemistry, Metallurgy and Technology, Njegoševa 12, Belgrade, 11000, Serbia

    Milica Kašanin-Grubin

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  1. Dragana Ranđelović
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Correspondence to Jelena Mutić.

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Ranđelović, D., Mutić, J., Marjanović, P. et al. Geochemical distribution of selected elements in flotation tailings and soils/sediments from the dam spill at the abandoned antimony mine Stolice, Serbia. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 6253–6268 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-07348-4

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