Abstract
The nitrogen compounds, namely ammonium, nitrite and nitrate nitrogen, are the main substances polluting the quarry and drainage waters of mining enterprises that use the ammonium nitrate-based explosives for drilling-and-blasting rock mass preparation. In accordance with the legislation, such waters are subject to treatment prior to discharge into the water bodies. At the mining enterprises, the promising treatment method is the treated water conditioning in the flooded abandoned open-pit mines, during which the natural microbiological nitrification of ammonium and nitrite nitrogen contained in the quarry drainage waters is performed with an efficiency of more than 95%. The article discusses the influence of natural climatic and hydrodynamic factors on the nitrification process according to the results of a purification process study that has been performed since 2014 until the present time at a large mining enterprise. The relevant conclusions and recommendations are given.
Highlights
Environmental protection for the health and fruitful life of present and future generations is one of the principles that is used as a guidance by most countries of the world in its policies, including Russia
The dynamic analysis of the removal of nitrogen compounds from the drainage waters of the productive quarry shows that their greatest values occur during the warm period of the year (April-October) that is due to the largest volumes of formation and discharge of the quarry drainage water formed as a result of precipitations to the drainage area of the quarry
According to the results of continuous monitoring performed during the warm period of the year (April - August), the observed ammonia nitrogen concentration in the water of the abandoned flooded mine does not exceed the established MAC values for the fishery water bodies when it is filled with the drainage water from the productive quarry with a maximum ammonium nitrogen concentration not exceeding 8 mg/dm3
Summary
Environmental protection for the health and fruitful life of present and future generations is one of the principles that is used as a guidance by most countries of the world in its policies, including Russia. The main pollutants of the discharged drainage and quarry waters of the mining enterprises are nitrogen compounds, such as ammonium, nitrite and nitrate nitrogen forms, the presence of which is caused by the use of explosives. The availability of an ammonium form in the quarry and drainage waters is explained by the dissolution and elution of ammonium nitrate during the water hole loading. Penetration of the nitrate form of nitrogen in the waters under consideration is associated both with the ammonium nitrate dissolution process in the water wells and with the natural desorption by precipitations of nitrogen oxides previously adsorbed by the rock mass
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