Impact of Bauxite Mining on Soil Chemical Properties at Several Depths

Abstract

Bauxite is one of the mining commodities that have high economic value as a contributor to the country’s foreign exchange with a potential of 349.61 million tons. The potential for bauxite is large enough to cause soil damage at the beginning of mining because to get bauxite ore, it has to move the layer of soil above it. Soil damaged by the bauxite mining process was improve with reclamation activities, which is one of the PT ANTAM obligations after the extraction of bauxite ore is complete. The soil in the reclamation area after bauxite mining has some very low soil chemical properties, for example the nutrient content of N, K, Ca, Mg and Na. In addition, the cation exchange capacity is very low, each ranging from 2.56 - 5.82 Cmol(+).kg−1, while base saturation is between 6.53 – 12.45%. Soil pH values ranged from 4.32 to 5.11 which was classified as very acidic to acidic. There is a tendency in the deeper soil layers some soil properties to decrease, such as pH, CEC, base saturation and C-organic content.