The aerosol particle size distributions of uranium and its daughter products were studied and determined in the area of the Rožná mine, which is the last active uranium mine in the Czech Republic. A total of 13 samples were collected using cascade impactors from three sites that had the highest expected levels of dust, namely, the forefield, the end of the ore chute and an area close to workers at the crushing plant. The characteristics of most size distributions were very similar; they were moderately bimodal, with a boundary approximately 0.5 μm between the modes. The activity median aerodynamic diameter (AMAD) and geometric standard deviation (GSD) were obtained from the distributions beyond 0.39 μm, whereas the sizes of particles below 0.39 μm were not differentiated. Most AMAD and GSD values in the samples ranged between 3.5 and 10.5 μm and between 2.8 and 5.0, respectively. The geometric means of the AMADs and GSDs from all of the underground sampling sites were 4.2 μm and 4.4, respectively, and the geometric means of the AMADs and GSDs for the crushing plant samplings were 9.8 μm and 3.3, respectively. The weighted arithmetic mean of the AMADs was 4.9 μm, with a standard error of 0.7 μm, according to the numbers of workers at the workplaces. The activity proportion of the radon progeny to (226)Ra in the aerosol was 0.61.
- MeSH
- Aerosols MeSH
- Mining * MeSH
- Radiation Monitoring MeSH
- Air Pollutants, Radioactive analysis MeSH
- Radium analysis MeSH
- Uranium * MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Geographicals
- Czech Republic MeSH
Aims: Impact of potentially toxic elements (PTE) on the health status of population of the Slovak Republic has been studied in two historical mining areas with ore extraction from Middle Ages (the Middle Slovak Neovolcanics, the Slovak Ore Mts.) and one historical mining area with more than hundred years brown coal mining (Upper Nitra region). Methods: The contents of PTE were analysed in groundwater/ drinking water and soils. The health status of resident population was evaluated based on 43 health indicators classified according to the international classi- fication of diseases (ICD, 10th revision), including mainly those indicators characterizing mortality on cardiovascular and oncological diseases. In these areas the health status of population living in municipalities with increased PTE contents (As, Pb, Zn, Cu, Cd, Hg and Sb) was compared with that in adjacent municipalities showing low PTE contents.
- MeSH
- Water Pollution, Chemical analysis statistics & numerical data MeSH
- Geological Phenomena MeSH
- Geologic Sediments MeSH
- Mining * MeSH
- Cardiovascular Diseases mortality MeSH
- Soil Pollutants analysis MeSH
- Water Pollutants analysis MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Neoplasms mortality MeSH
- Drinking Water chemistry MeSH
- Groundwater chemistry MeSH
- Industrial Waste MeSH
- Coal Mining MeSH
- Health Status Indicators MeSH
- Environmental Exposure * MeSH
- Environmental Pollution * analysis statistics & numerical data MeSH
- Check Tag
- Humans MeSH
- Publication type
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
- Comparative Study MeSH
- Geographicals
- Slovakia MeSH
Ore mining and processing in semi-arid areas is responsible for the generation of metal(loid)-containing dust, which is easily transported by wind to the surrounding environment. To assess the human exposure to dust-derived metal(loid)s (As, Cd, Cu, Pb, Sb, Zn), as well as the potential risks related to incidental dust ingestion, we studied mine tailing dust (n = 8), slag dust (n = 5) and smelter dust (n = 4) from old mining and smelting sites in northern Namibia (Kombat, Berg Aukas, Tsumeb). In vitro bioaccessibility testing using extraction in simulated gastric fluid (SGF) was combined with determination of grain-size distributions, chemical and mineralogical characterizations and leaching tests conducted on original dust samples and separated PM10 fractions. The bulk and bioaccessible concentrations of the metal(loid)s were ranked as follows: mine tailing dusts < slag dusts ≪ smelter dusts. Extremely high As and Pb bioaccessibilities in the smelter dusts were caused by the presence of highly soluble phases such as arsenolite (As2O3) and various metal-arsenates unstable under the acidic conditions of SGF. The exposure estimates calculated for an adult person of 70 kg at a dust ingestion rate of 50 mg/day indicated that As, Pb (and also Cd to a lesser extent) grossly exceeded tolerable daily intake limits for these contaminants in the case of slag and smelter dusts. The high risk for smelter dusts has been acknowledged, and the safety measures currently adopted by the smelter operator in Tsumeb are necessary to reduce the staff's exposure to contaminated dust. The exposure risk for the local population is only important at the unfenced disposal sites at Berg Aukas, where the PM10 exhibited high levels of bioaccessible Pb.
- MeSH
- Arsenates MeSH
- Child MeSH
- Adult MeSH
- Mining * MeSH
- Metals * administration & dosage analysis MeSH
- Soil Pollutants * administration & dosage analysis MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Environmental Monitoring MeSH
- Dust * analysis MeSH
- Environmental Exposure * MeSH
- Check Tag
- Child MeSH
- Adult MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
- Geographicals
- Namibia MeSH
Topsoils near active and abandoned mining and smelting sites are highly polluted by metal(loid) contaminants, which are often bound to particulates emitted from ore processing facilities and/or windblown from waste disposal sites. To quantitatively determine the contaminant partitioning in the soil particulates, we tested an automated mineralogy approach on the heavy mineral fraction extracted from the mining- and smelting-polluted topsoils exhibiting up to 1920 mg/kg As, 5840 mg/kg Cu, 4880 mg/kg Pb and 3310 mg/kg Zn. A new generation of automated scanning electron microscopy (autoSEM) was combined and optimized with conventional mineralogical techniques (XRD, SEM/EDS, EPMA). Parallel digestions and bulk chemical analyses were used as an independent control of the autoSEM-calculated concentrations of the key elements. This method provides faster data acquisition, the full integration of the quantitative EDS data and better detection limits for the elements of interest. We found that As was mainly bound to the apatite group minerals, slag glass and metal arsenates. Copper was predominantly hosted by the sulfides/sulfosalts and the Cu-bearing secondary carbonates. The deportment of Pb is relatively complex: slag glass, Fe and Mn (oxyhydr)oxides, metal arsenates/vanadates and cerussite were the most important carriers for Pb. Zinc is mainly bound to the slag glass, Fe (oxyhydr)oxides, smithsonite and sphalerite. Limitations exist for the less abundant contaminants, which cannot be fully quantified by autoSEM due to spectral overlaps with some major elements (e.g., Sb vs. Ca, Cd vs. K and Ca in the studied soils). AutoSEM was found to be a useful tool for the determination of the modal phase distribution and element partitioning in the metal(loid)-bearing soil particulates and will definitely find more applications in environmental soil sciences in the future.
- MeSH
- Mining MeSH
- Soil Pollutants analysis MeSH
- Minerals analysis MeSH
- Environmental Monitoring MeSH
- Soil MeSH
- Metals, Heavy analysis MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
