Research on Arsenic Form in the Gold Mine Tailings by Different Leaching Processes

Gold mine tailing is an important source of arsenic pollution. There are great differences in the arsenic forms of mine tailings formed by different smelting processes. Different arsenic form directly affects its migration and transformation in the environment. Confirming the existing form of arsenic is an important method in the study of repairing arsenic contamination sites. Based on mine tailings generated by two different leaching methods (flotation process and biological oxidation process) for gold, pH meter and Eh meter was used to measure the physical properties of mine tailings (pH, Eh), X-ray Diffraction and X-ray Fluorescent to analyze the mineral phases and main compositions of the mine tailings and Electro-probe Microanalysis to analyze the arsenic existing form. The characterization result shows that the physical properties of flotation mine tailing and biological oxidation mine tailing change with the stacking environment. pH, Eh and pH_pzc are almost equal, ie pH≈8.5 and pH_pzc≈8.5. The choice of repair method is also restricted because both min tailings belong to the alkaline condition. For example, the electric repair method is only suitable for the acid condition but not for the two main mine tailings. Meanwhile the choice of repair reagent must be alkaline substance and iron oxide (hydroxide). The main mineral compositions of flotation mine tailing are quartz, dolomite and clay minerals and their chemical components are mainly Si and Al. The color of mine tailing is off-white. The arsenic content of this mine tailing is about 754 μg/g, mainly existing in the form of arsenopyrite (FeAsS). However, the main mineral type of biological oxidation mine tailing is gypsum. The main chemical components are Fe, Ca and S with a reddish-brown colour. The arsenic content is about 26350 μg/g. The existing forms of arsenic of this mine tailing are mainly arsenopyrite (FeAsS) and arsenic pentoxide (As₂O₅). There are many differences in mineral phase, main chemical components and arsenic forms of two kinds of mine tailings because every procedure step of the two-gold leaching processes is different. Therefore, in the in-situ repair work of mine tailings, it should be considered that different methods of gold leaching will influence the piled-up environment of mine tailings and arsenic forms and should be taken into consideration in order to choose a more appropriate, cheap and efficient repair method and choice of reagents.