Study of Soil Contaminated with Arsenic, Cadmium and Lead in Ancient Tailings in Zacatecas, México

Due to the growth of the urban area towards lands contaminated with ancient tails, in this work we evaluated if the leaching with calcium thiosulfate (CaS2O3) for the recovery of silver, gold and mercury from this soil, also dissolves arsenic, cadmium and lead; for this, we determined their quantity per each fraction of size of particle of the soil before and after the dissolution. Half of the soil samples were leached in the plant Beneficiadora de Jales del Centro, S. A. de C.V. and the rest of them remained in the laboratory. The ICP-OES technique was used to determine the amounts of arsenic, cadmium and lead, in the samples of both lots. The soil samples were collected in a neighboring area at El Lampotal, Vetagrande, Zacatecas, México, with an extension of 600 m2 at 22º52' 37.69'' N, 102º25' 11.73'' W. The amount of arsenic, cadmium and lead found in nonleached soil and for a particle size of 47 μm was 203.72±3.73, 33.63±1.31 and 3480.99±20.4 mg/kg respectively.

Authors:

• J. Ramírez-Ortiz
• J. Núñez Monreal

Keywords:

• Arsenic
• Cadmium
• Lead
• Soil
• Tails.

References:

[1] M. Bargall├│ "La miner├¡a y la metalurgia en la América Espa├▒ola durante
la época colonial", México: Fondo de Cultura Econ├│mica. 1955, pp.
115.
[2] M. Bargall├│ "La amalgamaci├│n de los minerales de plata en
Hispanoamérica colonial", México Compa├▒├¡a Fundidora de Fierro y
Acero de Monterrey. 1969, pp. 60.
[3] SEMARNAT. Action plan for La Zacatecana dam for the contention of
heavy metals. México, 2002.
[4] T. Ogura, J. Ramírez-Ortiz, Z. M. Arroyo-Villaseñor, S. Hernández-
Martínez, J. P. Palafox-Hernández, L. H. García de Alba, Q. Fernando.
"Zacatecas (México) companies extract Hg from surface soil
contaminated by ancient mining industries": Water Air Soil Pollut, vol.
148, no. , pp. 167-177. 2003.
[5] E. Santos-Santos, M. Yarto-Ramírez , I. Gavilán-García, J. Castro-Díaz,
A. Gavilán-García, R. Rosiles, S. Suarez, T. López-Villegas, "Analysis
of arsenic, lead and mercury in farming areas with mining contaminated
soils at Zacatecas, Mexico", J Mex Chem Soc, vol. 50, no. , pp. 57-63,
2006.
[6] C. A. Stetefelt "The lixiviation of silver-ore with hyposulphite solutions
with special reference to the Russell process", 2nd ed. The Tutle
Morehouse & Taylor, New Haven , Conn. 1895, pp. 210.
[7] B. J. Mason, "Preparation of soil sampling protocols: sampling
techniques and strategies" US-EPA/600/R-92/128. 1992.
[8] Google 2008 Lead Dog consulting, 2008Cnes/Spot Image, 2008 Digital
globe.
[9] Link, D. Dirk, P. J. Walter, H. M. Skip Kingston, "Development and
Validation of the New EPA Microwave-Assisted Leach Method 3051A,"
Environ. Sci. Technol. vol. 32, pp. 3628-3632, 1998.
[10] U.S. EPA. 2007, Test Method 3015A. on line "Microwave Assisted
Acid Digestion of aqueous samples and extracts". Available on: http://
www.epa.gov/osw/hazard/testmethods/sw846/pdfs/3015a.pdf.
[11] K. S. Subramanian, "Deterrmination of lead in blood: comparison of
two GFAAS methods", Atomic Spectroscopy vol. 8, pp. 7-11, 1987.
[12] D. B. Levy, K. H.Custis, W. H. Casey, P. A. Rock, "A comparation of
metal attenuation in mine residue and overburden material from an
abandoned copper mine", Appl. Geochem. vol. 12, pp. 203-211, 1997.
[13] M. Delfini, M. Ferrini, A. Manni, P. Massacci, L. Piga, "Arsenic
leaching by Na2S to descontaminate tailings coming from colemanite
processing", Minerals Engineering, vol. 16, pp. 45-50, 2003.
[14] NOM-147-SEMARNAT/SSA1-2004.
[15] D. R. Lide (ed) 2000, Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 2000-2001,
81st ed., CRC Press, Boca Raton , pp.8-21-8-26.
[16] I. Cano-Aguilera, B.E. rubio-Campos, G. De la Rosa, A.F. Aguilera-
Alvarado. "Arsenic mobility from mining tailings of monte san nicolas
to presa de mata in Guanajuato, mexico" International Journal of
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 181-184.
2008.