A Review of Research Progress of Isotope Technology in Tracing Pollution Process in the Mine Environment

With mining activities taking place on a global scale, the concern for environmental issues within and around mines continues to increase. The advent of multi-collector inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS) has promoted the geochemical study of isotopes and has led to the widespread use of isotope tracing techniques to investigate various issues in the mining environment.

To systematically summarize the various types of studies currently conducted on the application of isotope tracing technology in mining environments, with the aim of highlighting the importance of the application of isotope tracing technology in complex mining environments and the diversity of scientific problems it can solve.

Data published by scholars at home and abroad by July 2022 has been collected and compiled on testing and analyzing the supply source/connection of mine water body, sulfate/carbonate source and the cause of acid mine wastewater (AMD), migration and transformation of mining elements, different sources and contribution rates of heavy metal pollution with the help of isotope tracer technology. The study area covers more than 40 regions in 20 countries.

It is found that hydrogen and oxygen isotope tracing techniques in water bodies are effective tools for mine water source analysis, hydraulic linkage studies and AMD source identification. Sulfate sulfur and oxygen isotope tracing techniques provide important support for the study of sulfate sources in mine environments, AMD acidification processes and pollution, bacterial sulfate reduction and elemental migration transformation. Heavy metal isotope (Pb, Cd, Zn, Hg isotopes) tracing technology is an effective way to investigate the sources of metal pollution in mines and nearby environments and the contribution of different sources.

Although isotope techniques play an important role in resolving the sources of environmental pollutants in mines and the mechanisms of migration and transformation of characteristic pollutants and revealing the hydrogeochemical processes in mines, most of the current studies are limited to the application of single/few isotopes for short time tracing studies of environmental media in mines. Therefore, further development of multi-isotope tracing technology is needed in the future, as well as long-term and continuous monitoring and investigation of various problems in the mine environment. New and effective methods for pollution prevention and control are also proposed.