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Heavy metal and arsenic dispersion in a copper-skarn mining district in a Mexican semi-arid environment: sources, pathways and fate

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Abstract

The Cu–Au rich ores of the Concepción del Oro mining district, located on the semi-arid Mexican Altiplano, have been mined for over 400 years. The residues of these activities were piled on the banks of the main stream that drains the area. The tailings piles are neither treated nor protected, so the waste material has been dispersed over the surroundings by seasonally occurring heavy rains and winds. A small town with 5,000 inhabitants has grown up around the mining operations. Mineralogical observations indicate that sulphates are the first products of alteration of the primary sulphides and that Fe hydroxides are the stable minerals that are formed after longer periods of time. At the present time, an area of about 40 km2 along both sides of the stream has being severely contaminated with Cu–As–Zn-rich tailings, indicating that the seasonal heavy rains are indeed the main dispersion factor. Contaminated soils reach Cu-concentrations of up to 100 times, and As-concentrations of up to 20 times the local natural values. Factor analysis and geostatistical methods helped to identify pollutant origins and sources. Extraction tests on polluted agricultural soils using acetic acid mobilized 5–10 % of the total As content, 0.5–2.75 and 1–4.5 % of Cu and Zn, respectively, indicating the potential of the biological activity of the soil to enhance the mobility of the elements mentioned, and, in this way, to get into the food chain and/or groundwater. Stabilization measures of the tailings heaps must be urgently undertaken in order to minimize the risk for the inhabitants of the region and to stop the pollution of a broader area.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT-Mexico) for Grant 25602-T and for support for sabbatical leave (JCL); the Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí (UASLP) for Grant C01-FAI-4-9-36; the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León for Grant CT036-98 and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) that also contributed with economic support for this work. Authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions that greatly improved this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Engineering Faculty, UASLP, Av. Manuel Nava 8, C.P. 78290, San Luis Potosí, Mexico

    J. Castro-Larragoitia

  2. Institute for Mineralogy and Geochemistry, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany

    U. Kramar

  3. CIACYT/UASLP, San Luis Potosí, Mexico

    M. G. Monroy-Fernández

  4. Earth Sciences Faculty, UANL, Linares, NL, Mexico

    F. Viera-Décida & E. G. García-González

Authors
  1. J. Castro-Larragoitia
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  2. U. Kramar
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  3. M. G. Monroy-Fernández
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  4. F. Viera-Décida
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  5. E. G. García-González
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Correspondence to J. Castro-Larragoitia.

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Castro-Larragoitia, J., Kramar, U., Monroy-Fernández, M.G. et al. Heavy metal and arsenic dispersion in a copper-skarn mining district in a Mexican semi-arid environment: sources, pathways and fate. Environ Earth Sci 69, 1915–1929 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-012-2024-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-012-2024-1

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