7th BALKANMINE CONGRESS – Proceedings, Prijedor 2017

DOI: 10.7251/BMC170702253K

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION OF THE EFFECTS OF DUST

FROM THE VELIKI KRIVELJ TAILINGS DUMP

Slađana KRSTIĆ1, Milenko LJUBOJEV1, Mile BUGARIN1, Ivana JOVANOVIĆ1, Jasmina

NEŠKOVIĆ2, Miroslava MAKSIMOVIĆ1
1
Mining and Metallurgy. Institute Bor, Serbia; sladjana.krstic@irmbor.co.r, milenko.ljubojev@irmbor.co.rs,
mile.bugarin@irmbor.co.rs. ivajo7@gmail.com, miroslava.maksimovic@irmbor.co.rs
2
Mining Institute, Zemun, Belgrade, Serbia;jasmina.neskovic@ribeograd.ac.rs

ABSTRACT

Air quality in the area of Bor (Eastern Serbia) is monitored continuously in the urban, suburban and
rural areas. Considering the three measuring points (Institute, Jugopetrol and City Park) of the
environmental air quality, it was indicated that the dominant emission source of pollution over the last
ten years (and earlier) is Mining and Smelting Combine Bor. Flotation tailings dumps have become
source of pollution, not only due to degradation of the terrain where tailings are located, but also for
other reasons, such as: raising dust that pollutes the air and surrounding soil; leaching of hazardous
elements from flotation material through the rain and infiltration of contaminated water into the soil;
drainage of such a water into watercourses, etc. Flotation tailings dump Veliki Krivelj consists of two
symmetrical dumps – Field 1 and Field 2. Their dams were reconstructed as flotation dams 1A, 2A
and 3A. The main objective of this paper is the selection of geological - mining methods for long-term
solution for reclamation of flotation tailings dam 3A Veliki Krivelj, and protection of the environment
from the dust form Veliki Krivelj flotation tailings dump.

Keywords: Flotaion tailings, air quality control in the area, sand cyclone, artificial factors, dust,
reclamation

1. INTRODUCTION

Copper flotation tailings is obtained as a by-product from the processing of copper ore from
the open pit mine Veliki Krivelj. Flotation tailings is disposed at the special place near the
flotation plant, in the valley of the Kriveljska Reka. By the disposal of this waste material it
was formed the degraded area – Flotation tailings dump Veliki Krivelj. The new degraded
area consists of the areas where the flotation tailings is disposed (Field 1 and Field 2) and 3
elevations (internal and external slope of the embankment). On the other words, there are
three dams 1A, 2A and 3A that surround the degraded area of the flotation tailingss dump
Veliki Krivelj. Reclamation process, conducted through several phases, is covered only dams
1A and 2A so far.

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Hydrocyclone underflow from the dam 3A has unfavorable soil properties due to the lack of
clay particles and organic matter, which would activate soil processes and microflora
working.
The sources of air pollution in the Municipality of Bor are numerous and diverse. The most
important are: 1) Mining in Bor (dust); 2) Metallurgy in Bor (sulfur dioxide and dust); 3) Base
chemistry in Bor (sulfur oxides); 4) Energetics - Heating plant and individual furnaces (soot,
carbon and sulfur oxides); 5) Traffic and 6) field and forest fires.
Mining and industrial plants are located directly next to the settlement, which as a result has
frequent high concentrations of pollutants. Pollution levels are primarily dependent on plant
capacity. Last Cadastre of emission was done at the end of the eighties (when the plants
worked at full capacity) within the project "Protection and improvement of the environment
of the Zaječar region" (Table 1).

Table 1. Cadastre of emission from all sources in Bor

SO2 SO3 NOX CO HCHO CH4 dust Pb As

t/day 323.98 0.165 5.981 8.197 0.074 1.55 148.76 0.089 0.939

t/year 214874 18.19 1444.2 2734.5 27.66 514.97 30031.3 31.13 137.1

2. EXPERIMENTAL

One of the types of environmental pollution from the flotation tailings dump Veliki Krivelj is
air pollution (besides pollution of water and soil). The dominant winds on the tailings dump
are from the north-west and north-east direction. The dams 1A and 2A were recultivated and
rising of dust from their surfaces was prevented. The exact amount of dust emission from
flotation tailings dump Veliki Krivelj has never been measured on the daily or annual level.
Samples of materials from the dams of flotation tailings dump Veliki Krivelj (for laboratory
tests of physical properties) were taken under the disrupted and undisrupted conditions,
marked on the terrain and conserved in order to preserve mechanical and water-physical
characteristics.
On this samples, among the other physical properties, granulometric tests were performed.
The particle size of a material is very important, bacause of the dust rising and its
transmission by the wind (wind speed and direction).
On the location map (Figure 1), the locations and sampling number of the material from dam
2A are shown. The material is sampled from the surface of the terrain and at a depth of 20
centimeters. This is also a real depth to which erosion can be expected – in the sence of the
elevation of degraded material through the aeolian process.

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Figure 1. Situation map of sampling dam 2A.

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Based on the examined physical characteristics and granulometric composition of the flotation
tailings, we can see the very favorable natural moisture and particle size distribution of the
composite (hydrocyclon underflow used for bank the dam) (Table 2). The difference in
moisture content of the composite and the optimum moisture is about 10%, and from particle
size distribution curves we can see that the grain size does not exceed 0.5 mm. The largest
amount of bulk material is in the range of so called sand. The chemical composition of the
material from flotation tailings dump Veliki Krivelj is shown in Table 3.
Table 2. Granulometric composition of the material from flotation dam Veliki Krivelj in Bor
Granulometric content
Material of the flotation dam 3A Flotation tailings Material of the flotation dam 2A
mesh Cumulative Content Cumulative Content
Content Cumulative content
sieve content M% content M%
M% K%
(mm) K% K%
0.417 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
0.295 16.47 16.47 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
0.208 23.17 39.64 1.37 1.37 12.98 12.98
0.147 23.91 63.55 3.00 4.30 24.77 37.75
0.134 15.60 79.15 5.25 9.62 10.43 48.18
0.074 7.83 86.98 5.40 15.02 10.67 58.85
0.034 6.54 93.52 11.32 26.34 10.75 69.60
<0.034 6.48 100.00 73.66 100.00 30.40 100.00
Table 3. Chemical composition of the flotation tailings from Veliki Krivelj dump in Bor
SAMPLE
Element Material taken "in situ" from the Material taken "in situ" at a
surface depth of 20 cm
As (mg/kg) 0.32 0.20
Pb (mg/kg) <1.0 <1.0
Cd (mg/kg) < 0.2 < 0.2
Ni (mg/kg) 1.30 <1.00
Cu (mg/kg) 480.0 185.7
Zn (mg/kg) 8.0 12.0
Cr (mg/kg) 3.33 3.32
Mn (mg/kg) 34.04 23.83
Fe (mg/kg) 4421.05 1789.47

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4. CONCLUSION

Flotation tailings dump Veliki Krivelj is one of many sources of pollution, because of the dust
raising that pollutes the air and spreads to the surrounding land. Besides that, dust is washed
by the rain, and the contaminated water penetrate into the ground, as well as into the
watercourses.
Flotation tailings dump Veliki Krivelj can be environmentally friendly if the reclamation of
degraded area of dam 3A is performed. In that case, the environment will be protected from
dust from the flotation tailings dump Veliki Krivelj. For these reasons it is necessary to pour
the soil on the surface in a layer of at least 10 centimeters (technical recultivation, that is, the
first stage of recultivation). This addition of organic matter will provide the necessary
minimum for the development of grass cover and trees (which belongs to biological
recultivation, or the second stage of recultivation).
The total costs of recultivation are 114,034.06 €, and the expected benefit of the recultivation
of the dam 3A of the flotation tailings dump Veliki Krivelj is multiple, primarily: 1)
Environmental protection of the villages Veliki krivelj and Oštrelj; 2) The possibility of
ending the existence of a sanitary protection zone and compensation of the Mining and
Smelting Combine Bor to farmers for lost profits; 3) Profit from sale of acacias when
conditions are met (after 40 years). Expected profit from acacias is calculated according to the
current situation of 6.380 €/ha, or the total profit from the trees is expected to be 14.705 €/ha.

5. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This investigation was conducted under Project TR 330021 “Research and Monitoring the Changes of
the Stress Strain State in the Rock Mass "In-Situ" around the Underground Rooms with Development
of Models with Special Reference to the Tunnel of the Krivelj River and Pit Bor", funded by the
Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia.

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