Abstract
Heap leaching for rare earth elements poses a serious long-term threat to the adjacent ecological systems in mining areas. The purpose of this research is to thoroughly study the environmental effects of heap leaching in ion-adsorption rare earth element mine tailings after restoration by ecological measures. Soil samples were collected from four heap leaching rare earth element mine tailings and a control site to investigate their effects on topsoil chemical properties and the results of vegetation restoration. The findings revealed that the effects of heap leaching operations increase soil acidity; the soil's sand content was more than twice that of the control site, while the silt content was much lower. Natural and artificial restoration are difficult to establish in mining areas. Plant growth was hampered in the early stages of rehabilitation due to a lack of organic carbon. Then, because of the lack of nitrogen, the plants' succession did not take place over time. Therefore, carbon fertilizers are recommended at the early stage of rehabilitation and soil tumbling to increase the efficiency of nitrogen up-taking. Although heap leaching is no longer permitted, the historic environmental problem at ion-adsorption mine tailings persists. As a result, more research is needed to develop strategies for contamination management in these areas.
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Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful for the support from the funding agencies. Haimei Chen is thankful to the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Funding
This work was supported by the Education Research for Young and middle-aged Teachers of Fujian Province Educational Bureau, China (No. JAT220217), the Key Project to Guide Social Development of Fujian Province, China (No. 2020N5007), and the Minnan Normal University President's Fund (No. KJ2021022).
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HC contributed to conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis and investigation, writing—original draft preparation, funding acquisition. HC contributed to formal analysis and investigation, writing—original draft preparation. ZC contributed to conceptualization, methodology, funding acquisition; supervision. ZC contributed to conceptualization, methodology, supervision.
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Chen, H.B., Chen, H.M., Chen, Z.B. et al. The ecological impacts of residues from the heap leaching of ion-adsorption rare earth clays. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 20, 13267–13276 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-023-04873-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-023-04873-1