Research of the pollutants distribution contained in the waste from the enrichment of a decommissioned tailings pool

Introduction. Monitoring of decommissioned tailings storage facilities is necessary to ensure environmental and technological safety in order to develop protective measures to reduce the potential impact of the tailings storage facility on the environment and to address the issue of additional extraction of valuable components from the tailings. The aim of the research is to investigate of tailings pollutant data to reduce elemental distribution uncertainty. Materials and Methods. The research methods are correlation analysis, mathematical statistics, machine learning, K-means clustering. Results. During the research Hypothesis 1 regarding the varying concentrations of pollutants across sections of the tailings storage facility was confirmed . The assumption of independent distribution of chemical elements was rejected by correlation and cluster analysis (Hypothesis 2). The research constructed a heat map of the most hazardous chemical elements, indicating weak, strong, and inverse relationships between the elements' relative positions within the tailings deposit layers. Discussion. Since soil samples were collected from individual sites, this study examined a static model of chemical element distribution. Further research is needed to assess the dynamics of changes in the tailings pond's composition and the validity of the patterns identified in this research. Conclusion. 1. The research of the distribution of pollutants in tailings sediment layers allowed us to assess the strength of the linear relationships between individual chemical elements. 2. An analysis of deviations in chemical content from the maximum permissible concentrations revealed general trends in the concentration of substances of hazard classes 1-3 for individual tailings sediment layers. 3. Cluster analysis allowed us to group chemical elements and account for similar dynamics of pollutant content in tailings sediment layers. 4. Prospects for further research include increasing the number of pollutants considered and assessing their relationships with each other and with those considered in this study. Modeling the component composition of individual sections (layers) of the tailings storage facility is also a promising area. Resume. Contaminant levels in the soil of the Unal tailings dam significantly exceed the maximum permissible concentration. The results of the study allowed us to draw several conclusions regarding the interrelationships between pollutants at various sites within the dam. However, further research is needed in this area to establish a comprehensive geo - ecological monitoring system. Suggestions for practical application and directions for future research. The identified dependencies of the distribution of substances of hazard classes 1-3 are necessary for creating machine learning models and modeling the concentration of pollutants over the entire area of the tailings storage facility

Hazardous waste · Pollutant · Sediment · Tailings · Tailings dam · Ergonomics and Human Factors · Railway Systems and Materials Science · Tailings Management and Properties · Pollution