Petryshen Wyatt
Wildsight, Kimberley, British Columbia, Canada.
Heliyon. 2023 Jun 27;9(7):e17242. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e17242. eCollection 2023 Jul.
Despite the extensive use of mountaintop coal mining in the Elk Valley, British Columbia, Canada's largest metallurgical coal-producing region, little is known about the transport and deposition of fugitive dust emissions within its mountain landscape. This study aimed to assess the extent and spatial distribution of selenium and other potentially toxic elements (PTEs) near the town of Sparwood originating from fugitive dust emitted from two mountaintop coal mines. To achieve these objectives concentrations of 47 elements within moss tissues of , , and were analyzed from 19 locations between May 29 to June 1, 2022. Contamination factors were then calculated to identify areas of contamination, along with generalized additive models to assess the relationship between selenium and the mines. Finally, Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated between selenium and other PTEs to determine which exhibited similar behaviour. This study found that selenium concentrations are a function of proximity to mountaintop mines, and the region's topographic features and prevailing wind patterns play a role in the transport and deposition of fugitive dust. Contamination is highest immediately surrounding mines and decreases at increasing distances, with the region's steep mountain ridges shielding the deposition of some fugitive dust when acting as a geographic barrier between adjacent valleys. Furthermore, silver, germanium, nickel, uranium, vanadium, and zirconium were identified as other PTEs of concern. The implications of this study are significant as it demonstrated the extent and spatial distribution of contaminants originating from fugitive dust emissions surrounding mountaintop mines and some of the controls to its distribution in mountain regions. As Canada and other mining jurisdictions look to expand critical mineral development, it will be important for proper risk assessment and mitigation in mountain regions to limit community and environmental exposure to contaminants within fugitive dust.
尽管在加拿大最大的冶金煤产区不列颠哥伦比亚省的埃尔克谷广泛使用山顶采煤法，但对于其山区景观中扬尘排放的传输和沉降情况却知之甚少。本研究旨在评估斯帕伍德镇附近源自两座山顶煤矿扬尘排放的硒及其他潜在有毒元素（PTEs）的范围和空间分布。为实现这些目标，于2022年5月二十九日至6月1日从19个地点分析了 、 和 苔藓组织内47种元素的浓度。然后计算污染因子以确定污染区域，同时使用广义相加模型评估硒与煤矿之间的关系。最后，计算硒与其他PTEs之间的皮尔逊相关系数，以确定哪些元素表现出相似的行为。本研究发现，硒浓度是与山顶煤矿距离的函数，该地区的地形特征和盛行风模式在扬尘的传输和沉降中起作用。污染在煤矿周围最为严重，并随着距离增加而降低，当该地区陡峭的山脊作为相邻山谷之间的地理屏障时，会阻挡一些扬尘的沉降。此外，银、锗、镍、铀、钒和锆被确定为其他值得关注的PTEs。本研究的意义重大，因为它展示了源自山顶煤矿周围扬尘排放的污染物的范围和空间分布，以及在山区对其分布的一些控制因素。随着加拿大和其他采矿管辖区寻求扩大关键矿产开发，在山区进行适当的风险评估和缓解措施以限制社区和环境暴露于扬尘中的污染物将非常重要。
