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Abstract of the Article

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Investigation of Environmental Contamination Due to the Waste Dump of Hillgrove Gold-Antimony Mines in the North of New South Wales, ustralia

Author:
[ A. Kamkar Rouhani ] - Assistant Professor of Mining and Geophysics Department, Shahrood University of Technology

Abstract:

The waste materials separated from extracted ores of Hillgrove gold-antimony mines in the north of New south Wales, during crushing, screening and processing, are disposed at a place in the Hillgrove area. These waste materials naturally contain considerable amounts of sulphide and arsenic compounds, and thus, have extensively caused contamination of soil and groundwater in the area. In addition, wet tailings, separated from different stages of flotation and leaching at the ore dressing plant, are disposed at the same place of disposing the dried waste rocks. These wet tailings contain remarkable amounts of various chemical compounds, and thus cause the subsurface contamination to spread out more and faster. A study of waste samples, taken from different sections of the waste dump, indicates that the subsurface contamination is of the chemical type and mainly has sulphate, carbonate and nitrate compounds. This subsurface contamination is overall alkali or basic. Applying surface geophysical surveys using electrical methods in the area, the limits and qualitative intensity of the subsurface contamination are determined, and also the contaminated zones from uncontaminated zones in the subsurface are distinguished.

Keywords:

Subsurface contamination, Flotation, Leaching, Waste material, Surface geophysical surveys,Chemical compounds