Critical elements scavenged by secondary gypsum and HFO : Determined by sequential extraction combined with mineralogical studies

Sammanfattning

The demand for metals is great for the purpose of developing green technologies, and EU has listed 30 metals and minerals that are of critical importance for the maintenance and evolving of today’s society, so called critical materials. However, mining of raw materials generates mine waste which can have adverse effect on human health, ecosystems, and surrounding areas. To be able to prevent the release of toxic levels of elements from mine waste, an understanding of how different elements behave in the secondary environments is necessary in order to use the most successful methods for mining remediation. It is common that secondary minerals, such as gypsum and/or HFOs (hydrous ferric oxides), forms in mine waste or in downstream environments, depending on the geochemical conditions. From prior studies, it is well established that trace elements are sorbed by HFO. But studies are scares regarding co-precipitation of elements with secondary gypsum formation, and few studies investigates the possibility of critical elements to be captured by secondary minerals. In this study, a prior unknown white precipitation along with tailings material from the Smaltjärnen tailings beach in Yxsjöberg, Sweden, has been investigated by combining mineralogical studies (SEM-EDS and DXRD analysis) with sequential extraction. The aim with the study was to identify the precipitation and to examine if critical elements had co-precipitated with the precipitation and HFOs within the sample. From the results it was possible to prove that the white precipitation was gypsum (CaSO4*2H2O), and it was indicated that some of the critical elements (beryllium for instance) showed affinity for gypsum, and that bismuth, tungsten, and chromium were sorped by HFOs. The combining of chemical analysis with mineralogical studies was of great importance for determining in which mineral phases the leached elements were situated, and the study has shown that secondary gypsum formation can be an important sink for some critical elements. More studies should be performed within this field of research to further investigate the importance of secondary minerals for scavenging of elements, not only to prevent toxic levels to be leached, but also to capture these elements in the purpose of re-mining.