RT Journal Article
T1 Geochemical, mineralogical and geostatistical modelling of an IOCG tailings deposit (El Buitre, Chile): implications for environmental safety and economic potential
A1 González Díaz, Erika
A1 García, Sebastián
A1 Soto, Fabián
A1 Navarro, Felipe
A1 Townley, Brian
A1 Caraballo Monge, Manuel Antonio
AB In the mining industry deposits of tailings represent large volumes of the mining wastes, reflecting the mineralogyand chemistry of the ore deposit type of origin. In this paper, we report the results of a mineralogical andgeochemical characterization study and geostatistical modelling of an Iron Oxide Copper Gold deposit withneutral pH, in an arid climate. Twenty-eight boreholes allowed recovery of 755 samples for analysis. Modellingby means of co-kriging spatial interpolation allowed determination of the distribution of concentrations for elementsof interest in the deposit. Low water flow and near neutral-pH paste restrict the mobility of the chemicalelements, limiting the development of an oxidation front and inhibiting the appearance of a secondary mineralenrichment zone and the precipitation of secondary efflorescent salts on the tailings surface. Our observationsdetermine that the composition of the gangue material, and to a lesser extent the effect of the tailings gravitationaldeposition and the geometry of the deposit, control the geochemical and mineralogical associations anddistributions present in this deposit of tailings. The observed low mobility along the tailings profile of somepotential pollutants (e.g., As, Mn, Cr and Ni) allows to anticipate a low groundwater pollution risk as long as thecurrent environmental conditions remain. Additionally, the depositional history of the tailings had a great influenceon the vertical and horizontal distribution of pyrite. However, the grades of elements economic interestsuch as Fe, Cu and Co are uniformly distributed, which would facilitate the application of tailings reprocessingtechnologies. In addition, it would allow maximizing the number of necessary boreholes for its economicevaluation.
PB Elsevier
SN 0375-6742
SN 1879-1689 (electrónico)
YR 2022
FD 2022-05
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10272/23093
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10272/23093
LA eng
NO González-Díaz, E., García, S., Soto, F., Navarro, F., Townley, B., & Caraballo, M. A. (2022). Geochemical, mineralogical and geostatistical modelling of an IOCG tailings deposit (El Buitre, Chile): Implications for environmental safety and economic potential. In Journal of Geochemical Exploration (Vol. 239, p. 106997). Elsevier BV. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gexplo.2022.106997
NO This study was funded by CORFO and Codelco through the project 16PTECME-66524. It was also partially financed by the projects CONICYT/PIA Project AFB180004 and UNESCO-IUGS-IGCP-Project 682. Erika González-Díaz has received research support from the National Agency for Research and Development (ANID)/Scholarship Program/DOCTORADO BECAS CHILE/2019 -21192290. Manuel A Caraballo has received research supported from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the Program Ramón y Cajal 2019, Grant RYC2019-026496-I.
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
RD 1 jun 2026