School of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2021 Jun;28(23):29231-29240. doi: 10.1007/s11356-021-12728-w. Epub 2021 Feb 8.
It is known that the tailings of gold mines have brought serious heavy metal pollution; however, the heavy metal pollution caused by gold tailings in specific geological environments and extraction processes still must be studied. This study investigated the distribution, speciation, bioaccumulation, and pollution of heavy metals in soils from the Yueliangbao gold tailings area in central China, where gold was extracted by cyanidation. The results show that the concentrations of Cu, Pb, Zn, Mn, Mo, and Cd in the soils of the tailings pond were higher than those in the local background. The concentrations of heavy metals related to mineralization activities, such as Cu, Pb, Zn, and Mo, varied with the distance to the tailings pond center. There was a decreasing trend of tailings pond center > tailings pond entrance > surrounding environment. This study's gold tailings pond differed from those of other regions because of its high content of unextracted Cu remaining in the pond. The proportion of non-residual Cu in the tailing pond soil was much higher than that of residual Cu, indicating it was likely to migrate to the surrounding environment. The pollution assessment indicated that the tailings pond soils were heavily polluted by Cu, and the level of heavy metal pollution in soils was positively correlated with the distance to the tailings pond center. Consequently, this tailings pond may become a source of Cu pollution in the surrounding environment, thus endangering environmental safety and human health. The study of heavy metal concentrations in the dominant plants showed that Chinese brake (Pteris vittata L.), Ramose scouring rush (Equisetum ramosissimum), and Manyflower silvergrass (Miscanthus floridulus) had the potential to be used for the phytostabilization of Cu.
已知金矿尾矿带来了严重的重金属污染，但在特定地质环境和提取工艺下金矿尾矿造成的重金属污染仍待研究。本研究调查了中国中部月亮包金矿氰化提金尾矿区土壤中重金属的分布、形态、生物累积和污染情况。结果表明，尾矿库土壤中 Cu、Pb、Zn、Mn、Mo 和 Cd 的浓度高于当地背景值。与成矿活动相关的重金属浓度（如 Cu、Pb、Zn 和 Mo）随距离尾矿库中心的变化而变化，趋势为尾矿库中心>尾矿库入口>周围环境。本研究中的金尾矿库与其他地区的尾矿库不同，因为库中残留的未提取 Cu 含量较高。尾矿库土壤中非残留 Cu 的比例远高于残留 Cu，表明其很可能向周围环境迁移。污染评估表明，尾矿库土壤受到 Cu 的严重污染，土壤中重金属污染水平与距尾矿库中心的距离呈正相关。因此，该尾矿库可能成为周围环境 Cu 污染的来源，从而危及环境安全和人类健康。对优势植物中重金属浓度的研究表明，凤尾蕨（Pteris vittata L.）、节节草（Equisetum ramosissimum）和芒草（Miscanthus floridulus）具有 Cu 植物稳定化的潜力。
