Abstract
The subject of the research is one of the largest World’s mine tailings
disposal sites, i.e. Żelazny Most in the Legnica-Głogów Copper Mining
District (south-western Poland), where flotation tailings are poured out
after copper ore treatment. The protective hydraulic barrier made of 46
vertical drainage wells was characterized and evaluated in view of
reduction of major contaminants (Cl, Na, SO4, Ca) migrating from the
facility to its foreground. The efficiency of groundwater protection was
determined on the basis of a new approach. In applied method the loads of
characteristic and commonly recognizable compounds, i.e. salt (NaCl) and
gypsum (CaSO4) were calculated, instead their chemical components. The
temporal and spatial variability of captured main contaminants loads as
well as its causes are discussed. The paper ends with the results of
efficiency analyses of the barrier and with respect to the predicted
increase in contaminant concentrations in the pulp poured out to the
tailings site.
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