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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
ArticleName Influence of tailings pond on hydrochemical conditions of groundwater at Mikhailovsky Mining and Processing Plant
DOI 10.17580/gzh.2015.11.16
ArticleAuthor Elantseva L. A.
ArticleAuthorData

NOVOTEK Science and Technology Center, Belgorod, Russia:

L. A. Elantseva, Head of Research Department, Candidate of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences, e-mail: LAElanceva@novotek15.ru

Abstract

Tailings pond at Mikhailovsky Mining and Processing Plant (MMPP) was placed in the Pesochnaya river valley in 1973, and was intended to store tailings of processing plant and to supply industrial consumers of MMPP and outside organizations with process water. The article describes the results of the analysis of the modern hydrodynamic and hydrotechnical conditions in the area of the tailings pond. It is considered how the tailings pond affects the table and qualitative composition of groundwater being the source of centralized public water supply at MMPP. The key contaminants in the tailings pond water and their sources are determined. Based on the analysis of the chemical composition of water in the tailings pond and groundwater, it has been concluded that the long-continued operation of the tailings pond has had no noticeable effect on the quality of groundwater of the pay aquifer, which is due to physicochemical, mechanical and microbiological self-clarification of the tailings pond water when moving in the aquifer system. This conclusion is confirmed by the groundwater content of such reliable indicators as sodions and sulfate ions at the level of background content (sodions around 20 mg/dm3, sulfate ions 75 mg/dm3), while the concentration of these indicators in the tailings pond water is much higher (130 and 250 mg/dm3, respectively). The research findings show that the tailings pond has not impaired the groundwater quality in the aquifer but stimulation of mining and variation of operation cycles at the plant keeps possibility of groundwater quality deterioration in the pay aquifer.

keywords Mikhailovsky Mining and Processing Plant, tailings pond, groundwater, hydrochemical conditions, aquifer, water supply intake, domestic water supply
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