Master Thesis
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MASTER UNIVERSITARIO EN CIENCIAS, TECNOLOGÍAS Y GESTIÓN AMBIENTAL FACULTY OF SCIENCES MASTER´S THESIS ACADEMIC YEAR 2015 - 2016 Assessment of the environmental impact of tailings in the Republic of Armenia Evaluación del impacto ambiental de escombreras de mina en la República de Armenia Avaliación do impacto ambiental de escombreiras de mina na República de Armenia Tatevik Baghdasaryan Name of Academic Tutor (UDC): Prof. Dr. Marcos Lado Liñares Prof. Dr. Eva Vidal Vázquez Name of Academic Tutor (NPUA): Prof/Dr. Artashes Tadevosyan May 2016 Acknowledgements Sincere gratitude and immeasurable appreciations for the help and support to all the people who directly or indirectly did participate and accompanied me during the development of this master work. First and foremost, to my thesis directors, Dr. Marcos Lado Liñares, Prof. Dr. Eva Vidal Vázquez (UDC) and Prof. Dr. Artashes Tadevosyan (NPUA) for constantly supporting and giving advices with their insight and expertise that greatly assisted this research. Many thanks to Prof. Dr. Moisés Canle López and Prof. Dr. Soledad Muniategui Lorenzo for their endless support during my stays at UDC. Finally I gratefully acknowledge TEMPUS RETHINKe European Union programme grant for supporting my stay at UDC. Sincerely Tatev Tatev Baghdasaryan Contents Summary...........................................................................................................................5 Resumen............................................................................................................................7 Resumo..............................................................................................................................9 Introduction.............................................................................................................11 Chapter 1 Tailings construction................................................................................21 Chapter 2 Classes of tailings danger in Armenia..........................................................26 Chapter 3 Tailings in Armenia.....................................................................................29 Chapter 4 Tailings of Syuniq and Lori.........................................................................32 4.1 "Dino Gold Mining Company" CJSC activity overview.......................................33 4.1.1 Short description about company........................................................................33 4.1.1.1 Technological processes..........................................................................33 4.1.1.2 Tails and Tailings....................................................................................34 4.1.1.3 "Geghanush" Tailing...............................................................................35 4.1.1.4 Building concerning to "Geghanush" tailings.......................................38 4.1.2 The description of Zero, Alternative and main variants of the management system planned for tails................................................................................................39 4.1.2.1"Without action" variant..........................................................................39 4.1.2.2 Suggested alternative variants.................................................................39 4.1.3 Analysis of Geghanush tailing.........................................................................40 4.1.3.1 Rivers water quality and wastewater composition...............................42 4.1.3.2 Social analysis........................................................................................47 4.2. Teghut Copper-Molybdenum Combine..............................................................49 4.2.1Tailings................................................................................................................49 4.2.1.1 Total information...................................................................................49 4.2.1.2 Geotechnical conditions........................................................................50 4.2.1.3 Tailings..................................................................................................50 4.2.1.3.1 Primary enclosing dam……...............................................................51 3 Assessment of the environmental impact of tailings 4.2.1.3.2 Discharge structure (collector with receiving waters wells)..............52 4.2.1.4 In situ observation of the state of the tailings........................................52 4.2.2 Analysis of Teghut tailing...............................................................................53 4.2.2.1 Social Analysis.........................................................................................57 Chapter 5 Last considerations about tailings in Armenia…………….......................58 Conclusions.....................................................................................................................60 References.......................................................................................................................62 Annexes 4 Tatev Baghdasaryan Summary Mine tailings and accidents related to them are one of the most dangerours environmental problems all over the World. This problem is specially acute in small countries where mining industries are important, particularly mining of metallic ores. Armenia currently hosts about 400 mining operations, 22 of which are polymetallic. The total area occupied by mining factories accounts for 10000 hectares, 8000 of which comprise the exploited grounds and 1500 hectares correspond to the area underlying the tailing dams. Being Armenia a mountainous country with a small area, problems of occupation of space and soil and water pollution become particularly acute and urgent to be solved. In fact, there are more than 1 million tons of mining wastes in the Republic of Armenia already, located in the tailing dams of more than 20 enrichment tailings. The construction of new storage facilities, and consequently, the occupation of new territories appear regularly, and it becomes a serious, unsolvable problem since those areas used for tailings become unsuitable for further use. In this work, we edited and summarized the information about the enrichment tailing dams of the Republic of Armenia mining activities. From all existing tailings, 8 of them are already closed. Some of them were closed without being fully exhausted. One of the main reasons for this fact is that during their design, the amount of rainwater accumulation was not properly calculated and therefore tailings mothballed ahead of the planned time. Most of the Armenian tailings are located in the region of Syuniq, with 9 tailings, followed by the region of Lori with 8 tailings. From these, the biggest mining operations are Geghanush in Syuniq and Teghut in Lori. In this work, we used these two big tailings as representative of the general condition and risks of tailings in Armenia. Accordingly, we made laboratory (solid material and water composition) and social analysis for both tailings and we conclude that the high amount of hazardous heavy metals in these tailings spread to nearby territories and contaminate the soil, water and air, enter the food chain, and adversly affect the human health. At first glance, these problems seem unsolvable. 5 Assessment of the environmental impact of tailings However, correction measures must be implemented in order to reduce the pollution. 6 Tatev Baghdasaryan Resumen Las escombreras de minas y los accidentes realcionados con ellas son uno de los problemas ambientales más peligrosos que existen en el mundo. Su problemática es especialmente acusada en aquellos países con importantes explotaciones mineras, particularmente en yacimientos metálicos. En Armenia, existen actualmente alrededor de 400 explotaciones mineras, de las cuales 22 son polimetálicas. El área total ocupada por factorías mineras es de 10000 hectáreas, de las que 8000 son los yacimientos en sí, y 1500 se corresponden con el área ocupada por las escombreras. Al ser Armenia un país montañoso de área pequeña, los problemas de ocupación de espacio y de contaminación de suelos y aguas derivados de la minería son particularmente acuciantes y su solución se torna urgente. De hecho, existe más de un millón de toneladas de residuos de minería acumulados en más de 20 escombreras. La construcción de nuevas instalaciones de almacenaje de residuos, y consecuentemente, la ocupación de nuevos terrenos, es una cuestión recurrente y puede ocasionar problemas graves e irreversibles, ya que las áreas ocupadas por escombreras no pueden ser utilizadas para otros usos. En el presente trabajo, se ha recopilado y resumido la información disponible sobre las escombreras que existen en la República de Armenia. De estas escombreras, 8 han sido cerradas. Algunas de ellas han sido cerradas sin haber sido llenadas por completo. Una de las principales razones ha sido que en su diseño no se ha tenido en cuenta la acumulación de agua de lluvia, y por tanto las escombreras se llenaron antes de la fecha prevista. La mayor parte de las escombreras se sitúa en la región de Syuniq, donde se sitúan 9, y Lori, donde hay 8. De éstas, las mayores explotaciones mineras son las de Geghanush, en Syuniq, y Teghut, en Lori. En el presente trabajo, se han analizado estas dos escombreras, como ejemplos representativos de la situación general de estas acumulaciones de residuos mineros en Armenia. En consecuencia, se han realizado análisis de laboratorio (material