Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University, Saint-Petersburg, Russia:

D. S. Petrov, Associate Professor, Candidate of Engineering Sciences
A. S. Danilov, Associate Professor, Candidate of Engineering Sciences, aleksandrdanilov@gmail.com

Industrially altered areas of mining facilities and, especially, mining waste storages constitute a serious threat to hydro-ecosystems. The article describes the hydro-ecological studies carried out in the location area of Fosforit Industrial Group—a manufacture of mineral fertilizers and other chemical products. The data were obtained over the period from 2017 to 2023. It is highlighted that after reclamation of surface mines of Yuzhny Mine Management, the hydrogeological regime in the area has changed. The water bodies generated in the voids of open pits mined-out with internal dumping belong to an oligotrophic–mesotrophic type. The water content of fluorides and nitrates complies with the standards set for the fish-husbandry water bodies. The concentrations of ammonia nitrogen, nitrites, sulfates, fluorides and such metals as iron and manganese are below the background values. In the meanwhile, in the water bodies westward of the operating mine infrastructure, where the phosphogypsum dumps are located, a hydrochemical envelope is formed, with high concentrations of phosphorus and sulfates. The implemented experiment demonstrated a high migration capacity of some phosphogypsum components in a water solution. The article also gives the data on water sampled at the mouth of the Verkhovskoi stream, which show that, despite a substantial weakening, under certain hydrological conditions, the production waste storage facilities can be hazardous for the hydro-ecosystem of the Luga River, and can promote eutrop hication of the Gulf of Finland.

The study was carried out under the state contract with the Saint-Petersburg Mining University, Contract No. FSRRW-2023-0002.

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