NOVOTEK Science and Technology Center, Belgorod, Russia:

L. A. Elantseva, Head of Research Department, Candidate of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences, e-mail: LAElanceva@novotek15.ru

Tailings pond at Mikhailovsky Mining and Processing Plant (MMPP) was placed in the Pesochnaya river valley in 1973, and was intended to store tailings of processing plant and to supply industrial consumers of MMPP and outside organizations with process water. The article describes the results of the analysis of the modern hydrodynamic and hydrotechnical conditions in the area of the tailings pond. It is considered how the tailings pond affects the table and qualitative composition of groundwater being the source of centralized public water supply at MMPP. The key contaminants in the tailings pond water and their sources are determined. Based on the analysis of the chemical composition of water in the tailings pond and groundwater, it has been concluded that the long-continued operation of the tailings pond has had no noticeable effect on the quality of groundwater of the pay aquifer, which is due to physicochemical, mechanical and microbiological self-clarification of the tailings pond water when moving in the aquifer system. This conclusion is confirmed by the groundwater content of such reliable indicators as sodions and sulfate ions at the level of background content (sodions around 20 mg/dm3, sulfate ions 75 mg/dm3), while the concentration of these indicators in the tailings pond water is much higher (130 and 250 mg/dm³, respectively). The research findings show that the tailings pond has not impaired the groundwater quality in the aquifer but stimulation of mining and variation of operation cycles at the plant keeps possibility of groundwater quality deterioration in the pay aquifer.

1. Antipov M. A., Zaikina I. V., Bezdenezhnykh N. A. Otsenka kachestva podzemnykh vod i metody ikh analiza (Assessment of the quality of underground waters and methods of their analysis). Saint Petersburg : Prospekt Nauki, 2013. 136 p.
2. Bochever F. M., Lapshin N. N., Oradovskaya A. E. Zashchita podzemnykh vod ot zagryazneniya (Protection of underground waters from pollution). Moscow : Nedra, 1979. 254 p.
3. Grinevskiy S. O. Gidrodinamicheskoe modelirovanie vzaimodeystviya podzemnykh i poverkhnostnykh vod (Hydrodynamic modeling of interaction of underground and surface waters). Moscow : Infra-M, 2012. 152 p.
4. Dimakova N. A., Sharapov R. V. Problema zagryazneniya podzemnykh vod (Problem of underground water pollution). Sovremennye naukoemkie tekhnologii = Modern High Technologies. 2013. No. 2. pp. 79–82.
5. Kovalevskiy V. S. Vliyanie izmeneniy gidrogeologicheskikh usloviy na okruzhayushchuyu sredu (Influence of changes of hydrogeological conditions on environment). Moscow : Nauka, 1994. 138 p.
6. Mironenko V. A., Molskiy E. V., Rumynin V. G. Izuchenie zagryazneniya podzemnykh vod v gornodobyvayushchikh rayonakh (Research of pollution of underground waters in mining regions). Leningrad : Nedra, 1988. 279 p.
7. Mays L. W. Water Resources Engineering. 2nd ed. New Jersey : Wiley, 2011. 928 p.
8. Kraynov S. R., Shvets V. M. Geokhimiya podzemnykh vod khozyaystvenno-pitevogo naznacheniya (Geochemistry of underground potable waters). Moscow : Nedra, 1987. 237 p.
9. Clark B. R., Hart R. M., Gurdak, J. J. Groundwater availability of the Mississippi embaymen. Reston : U. S. Geological Survey, 2011. 62 p.
10. Geiser J. Groundwater contamination: Discretization and simulation of systems for convection-diffusion-dispersion reactions. New York : Nova Science Publishers, 2009. 160 p.
11. Appelo C. A. J., Postma D. Geochemistry, Groundwater and Pollution. 2^nd edition. Taylor & Francis, 2005. 683 p.
12. Ross J. et al. Guidelines for Application of the Petroleum Resources Management System. SPE Oil and Gas Reserves Committee, 2011. 221 p.
13. Gororhovski V. Effective Parameters of Hydrogeologicol Models. Springer Briefs in Earth. London, New York : Springer Heidelberg Dordrecht, 2012. 153 p.
14. Rumynin V. G. Geomigratsionnye modeli v gidrogeologii (Geomigration models in hydrogeology). Saint Petersburg : Nauka, 2011. 1158 p.