Radiation assessment of the loparite ore enrichment tailings from the Umbozero mine

Abstract

The development of the mining industry inevitably has a negative impact on the environment. Sources of pollution of soils, air and water bodies can come from both operating enterprises and abandoned mines and tailings ponds. Samples of the surface layer (0-8 cm) of the loparite ore enrichment tailings, stored in the tailings of an abandoned processing plant in the Murmansk region, were collected and studied. The effective specific activity of natural radionuclides of less than 1500 Bq/kg allows the tailings to be classified as waste category I. Most of the samples belong to class II building materials. At the same time, almost all samples - 0.071 mm are characterized by an Aeff value above 740 Bq/kg, which means they belong to mineral raw materials and materials with a high content of natural radionuclides (II class of mineral raw materials and materials, III class of building materials). The established features should be taken into account when developing environmental protection measures in the zone of influence of the tailings dump and technologies for processing technogenic raw materials.