Antimony distribution and mobility in rivers around the world's largest antimony mine of Xikuangshan, Hunan Province, China

Mining and smelting activities of the world largest Antimony (Sb) mine which is located at Xikuangshan area of Hunan Province, China, constitute important sources of Sb pollution throughout the rivers in or around the mine. Water samples show high levels of Sb (2–6384 µg/l) relative to the average concentration of the world rivers (1 µg/l) and it occurs mainly in oxidized form. Sb has a higher affinity for the particulate phase than for the aqueous phase. Its contents in sediments decreased along with the distance from the mine (from 7316 to 57 mg/kg) and had good correlation relationships (p < 0.001) with porewaters. In addition to the major pools in the Fe–Mn oxide (22.2–66.4%) and residual fractions (5.66–53.5%), Sb was relatively abundant in strongly adsorbed fraction. Laboratory experiments of the contaminated sediments show that with increasing amounts of Sb in the sediment, an increasing amount of Sb was leached and went into solution. Although Sb(V) was the predominant form, the release of Sb(III) in oxic conditions was also observed during laboratory experiments. And the amount of Sb released into solution was higher in anaerobic conditions than in oxygenated water.