Study of Water-rock Interaction in Sulfide Mining Tailings using Geochemical and Geoelectrical Methods

Sulphide-bearing mill wastes of the Ursk Ore Processing Plant situated in the Kemerovo region (Russia) were investigated in the 2013 - 2015. Multipurpose studies of the Ursk mining tailings allowed to determine the composition of the wastes pore waters, acid mine drainages and affected groundwater. Electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) was used to trace the geoelectric zoning of the wastes, expressed as a consistent change of the electrical resistivity from zone to zone. Layers with low resistivity indicate areas with pore spaces filled by highly mineralized solutions with high concentrations of Cu, Zn, Cd, As, and Sb up to 12 g/L in total.