RESUMO
One of the major environmental concerns in the mining industry is the generation of acid leachates from tailings deposits, which are highly concentrated in potentially hazardous elements. The continuous processing of these leachates in treatment plant is unsustainable, so the in situ chemical improvement of the mine wastes and their leachates, mainly with another waste produced in the mining area, can reduce treatment and operational costs. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of two types of domestic wastewaters (DWW) on the improvement of the chemical characteristics of the leachates generated from mine wastes containing sulfides. A mesocosm assay was performed under greenhouse and controlled conditions with mine wastes collected in La Zanja mining area (Peru). Three irrigation treatments were tested: untreated DWW, treated DWW and water as control. Percolated leachates of each treatment were collected once per week, for a period of 10 weeks. Electrical conductivity, pH and multi-elemental concentration were analysed. During the assay, the mine wastes generated acid leachates (≈4) with significant concentrations of elements (mg/L; Al: 1.4-30.0; Cd: 0.05-0.19; Cu: 5.7-22.1; Fe: 1.6-19.4; Mn: 2.6-26.0; Zn: 1.2-9.2) and sulfates (204.3-997.8â¯mg/L), which exceed the thresholds established by Peruvian legislations. After DWW application, pH in the leachates increased to ≈7 and concentrations of several studied elements (e.g. Al, As, Fe, Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb, Ni, Mn) and sulfates decreased (>70% depending on DWW type, element and sampling) compared to the control. This fact allowed that the Environmental Quality standards from Peru (except for Cu and Mn) were reached. However, an enrichment of Na and K was obtained at the same leachates. At short term, the DWW application (especially untreated) on the mine wastes containing sulfides was effective in the improvement of the general chemical quality of their leachates. Moreover, the combined management of these two studied wastes (domestic wastewater and mine wastes) represents a promising cost-effective strategy during mining operation.
Assuntos
Mineração , Poluentes Químicos da Água , Monitoramento Ambiental , Peru , Sulfatos , SulfetosRESUMO
En el presente estudio, las comunidades bacterianas en muestras de suelo y agua, procedentes de pozas artesanales de lixiviación con cianuro, fueron caracterizadas por análisis dependientes e independientes de cultivo. Para la caracterización de la comunidad bacteriana cultivable, se emplearon técnicas clásicas de microbiología hasta la obtención de cepas puras, las cuales fueron identificadas a nivel molecular. Por otro lado, las comunidades bacterianas no cultivables fueron caracterizadas por secuenciación de próxima generación del gen ARNr 16S. La comunidad bacteriana cultivable estaba principalmente representada por los géneros Pseudomonas, Bacillus y Acinetobacter; mientras que las comunidades no cultivables, predominantes en muestras de suelo, fueron los filos Proteobacteria (12.91%), Firmicutes (11.32%), Actinobacteria (11.25%) y Bacteroidetes (10.16%). Por otro lado, en muestras de agua predominaron los filos Firmicutes (59.16%) y Actinobacteria (38.99%).
In the present study, bacterial communities in soil and water samples, from artisanal leaching pools with cyanide, were characterized by dependent and independent culture analyzes. For the characterization of the culturable bacterial community, classical techniques of microbiology were used, until obtaining pure strains, which were identified at the molecular level. On the other hand, uncultured bacterial communities were characterized by next-generation sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. The culturable bacterial community was mainly represented by the genera Pseudomonas, Bacillus and Acinetobacter; while the predominant uncultured communities, in soil samples, were the proteobacteria (12.91%), Firmicutes (11.32%), Actinobacteria (11.25%) and Bacteroidetes (10.16%). On the other hand, in water samples, the edges of Firmicutes (59.16%) and Actinobacteria (38.99%) predominated.
