Secondary arsenic minerals from the Złoty Stok As-Au abandoned mine (SW Poland)

Abstract

As so ci ate ed i tor: Stanis³aw Wo³kowicz Sec ond ary ar senic min er als (SAM) formed re cently in aban doned adits of the for mer Au-As mine at Z³oty Stok (SW Po land) con sti tute two as sem blages. The first con sists of two types of scorodite, pitticite, kaòkite, hörnesite, picropharmacolite and mi nor amounts of jarosite and gyp sum. For ma tion of the Fe ar se nates took place un der acidic con di tions (pH ~3-4) as a result of löllingite, ar seno py rite and py rite ox i da tion. Hörnesite and picropharmacolite crys tal lized as prod ucts of in ter ac tions be tween acidic ar senic-rich pore so lu tions with Mg-Ca car bon ates from rocks that sur round the ore min er ali sa tion. The in terac tion of car bon ates with acid pore so lu tions caused a rapid in crease in pH that reached neu tral or weakly al ka line val ues. The chem i cal com po si tions of hörnesite and picropharmacolite cor re spond well to their ideal com po si tions: (Mg 3.17 Ca 0.07) S3.24 (AsO 4) 1.90 × 8H 2 O and Ca 4.31 Mg 0.92 (HAsO 4) 1.91 [(AsO 4) 1.99 (SO 4) 0.01 ] S2.00 × 11H 2 O, re spec tively. The sec ond assem blage of SAM com prises ex clu sively the Mg-en riched erythrite [(Co 1.66 Mg 1.03 Ni 0.28 Ca 0.05 Zn 0.02) S3.03 (AsO 4) 1.99 × 8H 2 O)]anna ber gite [(Ni 1.48 Mg 0.94 Co 0.66 Ca 0.12 Fe 0.01 Zn 0.01) S3.20 (AsO 4) 1.92 × 8H 2 O] se ries. These min er als crys tal lized from slightly acidic (pH ~5-6) to neu tral me dia. Dis so lu tion of SAM and other sec ond ary phases (e.g., schwertmannite) causes the release of ar se nate and sul phate ions into mine wa ters. These ions can be re duced un der an aer o bic con di tions by dif fer ent strains of bac te ria. The prod uct of this pro cess is orpiment.

Arsenic pollution in Quaternary sediments and water near a former gold mine

“…scorodite and pitticite). Other SAMs (e.g., erythrite and annabergite) crystallised from slightly acidic to neutral pHs 52 .…”

Crystal Chemistry of an Erythrite-Köttigite Solid Solution (Co3–xZnx) (AsO4)2·8H2O

“…Therefore, the chemical composition of the arsenate series in most cases can be presented as a set of binary solid solutions, i.e., CoNi-1, CoMg-1, CoFe-1, CoZn-1, NiMg-1, and FeZn-1, with other substituting metals as subordinate constituents. Ternary annabergite-hörnesite-erythrite from Złoty Stok [11] (Table 1) and babánekite (Cu1.12Zn0.78Co0.69Ni0.32)Σ2.91 (AsO4)2•8H2O [3] are exceptional in this respect. Babánekite forms a quaternary solid solution of babánekite (38 mol%), köttigite (27 mol%), erythrite (24 mol%), and annabergite (11 mol%).…”

“…While reports on the occurrence of limited solid solutions within the arsenate series minerals are frequent [5,[9][10][11][12], no complete or extended solid solutions have been observed as yet in natural samples. Experiments involving syntheses showed a complete solid solution for the erythrite-annabergite binary [13][14][15] and a continuous solid solution for the erythrite-annabergite-hörnesite ternary up to the experimental limits [13].…”

Effect of Rhamnolipids and Lipopolysaccharides on the Bioleaching of Arsenic-Bearing Waste

“…The main ore types mined at Złoty Stok are löllingite, löllingite-arsenopyrite, pyritemagnetite, and pyrothine-arsenopyrite [8,9]. As-bearing sulphide ores are often decomposed by biological weathering as a result of the simultaneous oxidation of Fe(II) and As(III) by acidophilic bacteria, which leads to the formation of secondary products such as scorodite [10].…”

“…As-bearing sulphide ores are often decomposed by biological weathering as a result of the simultaneous oxidation of Fe(II) and As(III) by acidophilic bacteria, which leads to the formation of secondary products such as scorodite [10]. These-including scorodite-were investigated by Siuda and Macioch [9]. While arsenopyrite, the most common As-bearing mineral, has been extensively studied, bio-oxidation of löllingite has received less attention.…”