Recently forming secondary copper minerals as indicators of geochemical conditions in an abandoned mine in Radzimowice (SW Poland)

Abstract

1 In sti tute of Geo chem is try, Min er al ogy and Pe trol ogy, Uni ver sity of War saw, ¯wirki i Wigury 93, 02-089 Warszawa, Po land 2 In sti tute of Geo log i cal Sci ences, Pol ish Acad emy of Sci ences, Twarda 51/55, 00-818 Warszawa, Po land Siuda R. and Kruszewski £. (2013) Re cently formed sec ond ary cop per min er als as in di ca tors of geo chem i cal con di tions in an aban doned mine in Radzimowice (SW Po land). Geo log i cal Quar terly, 57 (4): 583-600, doi: 10.7306/gq.1114An oc cur rence of twelve re cently formed sec ond ary cop per min er als (SCM) was ob served in un der ground work ings of an aban doned Cu-As-Au mine in Radzimowice. The min er als, mainly sul phate spe cies, were iden ti fied us ing Pow der X-Ray Diffrac tion (PXRD), scan ning elec tron mi cro scope with en ergy dispersive spec tros copy sys tem (SEM-EDS) and elec tron microprobe anal y sis with wave length-dispersive spec trom e try sys tem (EPMA-WDS) meth ods. The SCM of Radzimowice form the fol low ing as sem blages: paragenesis I is char ac ter ized by langite, posnjakite, brochantite and devilline. These miner als crys tal lise di rectly from pH 6.0-7.0 mine wa ters. Paragenesis II also com prises hy drous cop per sulphates (HCS), and in ad di tion con tains na tive cop per, cu prite, ferrihydrite and gyp sum. Sec ond ary HCS mainly crys tal lise as prod ucts of re actions of sul phate-rich mine wa ters with na tive cop per and cu prite. The pH of these wa ters var ies from ~5.0 to 6.0. The III paragenesis is dom i nated by woodwardite, as so ci ated with vari able amounts of chalcoalumite and amor phous Cu-Al sulphates. Ac cu mu la tions of woodwardite oc cur in the zones where Al-and sul phate-rich acid mine wa ters (pH ~2.5-3.0) mix with neu tral wa ters (pH 6.5-7.0). Paragenesis IV is rare, dom i nated by chrysocolla, co ex ist ing with small amounts of mottramite and goethite. This as sem blage formed as a re sult of mo bi li za tion of sil ica re leased dur ing de com po si tion of rock-form ing aluminosilicates at tacked by acid mine wa ters.

Diversity of Bacterial Communities in the Acid Mine Drainage Ecosystem of an Abandoned Polymetallic Mine in Poland

“…Determined concentrations of heavy metals were in the range 0.019 mg/L to 166 mg/L for cadmium and iron, respectively. Investigated microbial structures were similar to microbial mats described in the literature as so-called slime streamers that can be built by the microorganisms of the iron-sulphur cycle and, therefore, capable to oxidizing the reduced sulphur and iron compounds [18][19]. The slime streamers may cover the large surface of adits in the Radzimowice Mine, but their occurrence is always limited to the acidic environment ( Fig.…”

“…The environmental samples were collected from a closed mine in Radzimowice. The polymetallic Radzimowice deposit is located in the SE part of the Kaczawa Mountains (southwestern Poland) [19]. The area is formed of metamorphosed mudrocks of the Lower Paleozoic age [19].…”

“…The polymetallic Radzimowice deposit is located in the SE part of the Kaczawa Mountains (southwestern Poland) [19]. The area is formed of metamorphosed mudrocks of the Lower Paleozoic age [19]. Some of the adits are completely or partially filled by water.…”

Application of arsenic surveying for determining the position of former mining and metallurgical constructions: an example from the Radzimowice area (Lower Silesia, SW Poland)

“…Stauffacher 1916;Manecki 1965;Zimnoch 1965;Mikulski 2005Mikulski , 2007. Several dozen secondary minerals occur in the oxidized zone of the deposit (Siuda 2012;Siuda and Kruszewski 2013;Parafiniuk et al 2016).…”

Recently formed arsenates from an abandoned mine in Radzimowice (SW Poland) and the conditions of their formation

“…Parafiniuk and Siuda (2006) also described the occurrence of schwertmannite. A detailed report on selected secondary copper minerals was presented by Siuda and Kruszewski (2013).…”