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Fine-grained weathering products in waste disposal from two sulphide mines in the northern Apennines, Italy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2018

E. Dinelli
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e Geologico-Ambientali, Università di Bologna, P.zza di Porta S. Donato 1; 1-40126 Bologna, Italy
N. Morandi
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e Geologico-Ambientali, Università di Bologna, P.zza di Porta S. Donato 1; 1-40126 Bologna, Italy
F. Tateo
Affiliation:
Istituto di Ricerca sure Argille - CNR, Via S.Loja; 1-85050 Tito Scalo (PZ), Italy

Abstract

From mineralogical and chemical characterization of two waste-rock piles from Vigonzano and Libiola sulphide mines in the northern Apennines, two types of fine-grained weathering products were recognized, One, from the Vigonzano mine, has a typical blue colour and consists of the Cu-Al sulphate of the woodwardite group. Its formation is related to an alkaline geochemical barrier, it is rather stable in acidic solution, and it controls Cu and Zn dispersion in the surrounding environment. The other group of sediments has a typical ochreous colour. Vigonzano samples consist mostly of goethite, whereas ferrihydrite is abundant in the Libiola sample. The ochreous sediments are enriched in Co, As, Mo, Se and Mn, thus significantly reducing the potential environmental hazard of the site, whereas solubility tests indicated possible problems due to AI dissolution at Libiola.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1998

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