Petrographic And Physico-Chemical Characterisation Of Tailings Dump And Soils Around A Nickel-Copper Mining And Smelting Environment

Abstract

Recent concerns of mining and smelting of nickel-copper (Ni-Cu) in Selebi Phikwe, Botswana possibly affecting the environmental physico-chemistry motivated this study. Physico-chemical analyses which included particle size distribution (PSD), pH, electrical conductivity (EC), cation exchange capacity (CEC), color and descriptive petrography on samples of tailings dump and soils were performed in order to understand the significance of these properties on the surrounding physical environment. The PSD of soil samples revealed the average wt % of the 2 μ m to 50 μ m to KEY WORDS: tailings dump; soils; physico-chemistry; particle size distribution; petrography; environment Global Journal of Environmental Sciences Vol.4(1) 2005: 31-39