Impact of Technogenic Wastewaters of Kavalerovskii and Dalnegorskii Mining Districts on the Hydrosphere of Primorsky Krai

Abstract

Continuous development of the mining industry at Primorsky Krai has led to formation of the technogenic mining systems in the Kavalerovskii and Dalnegorskii districts. These systems cause pronounced negative effect on the ecosphere. Discharge of the technogenic wastewaters with metals is potentially high and depends on the ore composition, and mineralization of the circum-ore envelope as well as hypergene and technogenic processes yielding the interstitial solutions, pit, slime, and drainage waters. Consequently, surface and underground waters get polluted by the toxic elements of the sulfide ores such as Cu, Zn, Pb, As, B, Fe, etc., their concentration in the technogenic waters often exceeding the background values and fishery threshold limit values. Sometimes this excess is up to hundreds of thousand times which indicates steady acceleration of hypergene and technogenic processes. Such effect of the mining technogenic systems caused environmental condition of the considered districts to be evaluated as strained and critical.