Studies on Contaminated Mine Soil and Its Remediation Using Soil Washing Technique - A Case Study on Soil at Kolar Gold Fields

Abstract

Uncontrolled mining and the tailings produced can cause significant environmental impacts such as water, air, and soil pollution. In the present study, a contaminated soil of gold mines located in the Karnataka state of India was studied to know the geotechnical behavior of this soil as a foundation material and to suggest a suitable soil remediation technique to avoid contamination of surrounding water bodies. The in-situ dry unit weight of soil at the selected locations varied from 15.71 to 18.75 kN/m 3 . The effective shear strength parameters determined from Triaxial test results were in the range of 4.8 -8.2 kN/m 2 and 19.4 0 -29.8 0 , respectively, for the cohesion and angle of internal friction. The soil samples were analyzed for bearing capacity and settlement using GEO5 software tool, and the economical dimensions of the footings were estimated. It was observed that the soil has sufficient bearing capacity, and the settlements are within the allowable range. The chemical analysis of the soil samples showed that there are considerable amounts of heavy metals present in the mine soil. Though the strength of the soil is good, the contaminants in the soil may cause groundwater contamination and damages to the footings. Hence, the soil washing technique as a remediation technique was also studied through column leaching tests using different leaching solutions and found that diluted hydrochloric acid (HCl) with Ethylenediamine-tetraacetic acid (EDTA) can effectively remove the heavy metals from the soil.

Effect of Adsorbents on Resistance Parameters of Heavy Metal-contaminated Clayey Sand Soils

“…According to the previous sections, about heavy metal absorption and also according to reported data in literature [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12], it can be concluded that the effect of lead nitrate on shear strength parameters is much higher than that of zinc nitrate. Accordingly, shear strength parameters in lead nitrate contaminated soil were investigated.…”

“…Soil type, initial concentration of heavy metals, and their extent in the soil cause changes in soil resistance parameters. As such, studying the behavior of soils contaminated with heavy metals and finding methods to deal with these contaminants is also of great interest in terms of geotechnical issues [4]. One of the most important processes affecting the cause of pollutants in the soil is their absorption by soil particles or adsorbents in the soil composition [5].…”

Ash Reduction of the Tailings of Agh-Darband Coal Washing Plant by Flotation Method

“…A significant volume of tailings produced from processing is generally left as permanent features of the landscape after the mining ceases (15). Coal mining is one of the mines that produces many tailings (ash).…”

A New Comprehensive Model for Integrating Environmental, Economic, and Social Performance of Deep and Large-scale Open-Pit Copper Mines

“…Cacciuttolo and Cano (25) analyzed the environmental impacts of gold and copper extraction in Chile and Peru, which considered metallurgical processing. Kumar et al (26) analyzed the geotechnical properties and remediation of contaminated soil from gold mines in Karnataka, India. The research sought to characterize the contaminated mine soil geotechnically and identify a soil-washing method to prevent surrounding environmental pollution.…”