Particle size and mineralogical composition of inorganic colloids in waters draining the adit of an abandoned mine, Goesdorf, Luxembourg

Distribution, speciation and availability of antimony (Sb) in soils and terrestrial plants from an active Sb mining area

“…The solutions are not saturated with respect to gypsum (CaSO 4 *nH 2 O), which commonly is found as secondary mineral in Sb mining areas (Filella et al, 2009a). Thus dissolution followed by equilibrium with gypsum is not suggested.…”

“…Worldwide, Sb is the ninth most mined metal and its compounds are listed as priority pollutant by the US Environment Protection Agency (USEPA, 1979). In soils Sb concentrations may be high, due to improperly disposed mine tailings and waste rocks (Filella et al, 2009a(Filella et al, , 2009cWilson et al, 2010), often by far exceeding reported background values for soils (Filella et al, 2002a;Reimann et al, 2010). Despite high total concentrations, the mobility and bioavailability of Sb is generally low (Casado et al, 2007;Flynn et al, 2003).…”

A simple method for quantifying the humic content of commercial products

“…Although any IHSS standard can be used, in principle, we advise using those whose response, and thus whose nature, is closer to the compound being analysed. For this purpose, visual comparison of the response obtained for the unknown sample with the response of IHSS standards [4,6] is enough to make a selection. Quantification of the humic contents in the unknown samples requires simultaneous measurement of the standard response curve and the unknown substances under the same conditions.…”

“…This method is fast, sensitive, needs only small amounts of the sample and, more importantly, is extremely selective: only water, soil and peat fulvic and humic acids, defined as fractions isolated by following the different standard procedures of the International Humic Substance Society (IHSS), give a signal while carbohydrates and proteins do not [3]. So far, the method has been applied to environmental waters [5][6][7]. In this study, the application of the method to commercial samples has been tested and a procedure that allows the quantification of such samples has been developed.…”

Photopromoted oxidative dissolution of stibnite

“…At mining sites, the reaction between water and tailings is an important process that controls the release and transport of Sb from mine sites into streams (He et al, 2012). The concentration of Sb in water within Sb mining areas is much higher than in other aquatic systems (Filella et al, 2009a(Filella et al, , 2009bHe et al, 2012;Majzlan et al, 2011;Wolkersdorfer and Wackwitz, 2004). Therefore, the dissolution of Sb 2 S 3 in aqueous solutions has significant environmental consequences, and understanding the geochemistry of Sb in weathering zones and in Sb pollution accidents in mines or nearby areas is thus important.…”