Low levels of common contaminants but high levels of other elements in waters linked to abandoned lithium mine

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href="https://sciencex.com/help/editorial-team/" target="_blank">Editors</a> have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: </p> <p> <span class="tick-mark"></span> fact-checked </p> <p> <span class="tick-mark"></span> peer-reviewed publication </p> <p> <span class="tick-mark"></span> proofread </p> </div> </div> </div> <h1 class="text-extra-large line-low mb-2">Low levels of common contaminants but high levels of other elements in waters linked to abandoned lithium mine</h1> <p class="article-byline text-low"> by Duke University </p> <div class="mt-4 article-main"> <div class="article-gallery lightGallery"> <div data-thumb="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/tmb/2024/what-are-the-effects-o.jpg" data-src="https://scx2.b-cdn.net/gfx/news/hires/2024/what-are-the-effects-o.jpg" data-sub-html="An aerial view of a former lithium mine located west of Charlotte, NC in the North Carolina piedmont region. Credit: Gordon Williams/Duke NSOE"> <figure class="article-img"> <img src="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2024/what-are-the-effects-o.jpg" alt="What are the effects of historic lithium mining on water quality?" title="An aerial view of a former lithium mine located west of Charlotte, NC in the North Carolina piedmont region. Credit: Gordon Williams/Duke NSOE" width="800" height="530"> <figcaption class="text-darken text-low-up text-truncate-js text-truncate mt-3"> An aerial view of a former lithium mine located west of Charlotte, NC in the North Carolina piedmont region. Credit: Gordon Williams/Duke NSOE </figcaption> </figure> </div> </div><p>Lithium ore and mining waste from a historic lithium mine located west of Charlotte, North Carolina, are unlikely to contaminate surrounding waters with common pollutants such as arsenic and lead, according to a new study.</p> <div class="article-banner first-banner ads-336x280">  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1449240174198-2'> <script type='text/javascript'> googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1449240174198-2'); }); </script> </div> </div> <p>However, high levels of other metals—namely, lithium, rubidium and cesium—do occur in waters associated with the mine.</p> <p>The research is <a href="https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0048969724074382" target="_blank">published</a> in the journal <i>Science of The Total Environment</i>.</p> <p>The new findings, from a team including corresponding author Avner Vengosh, distinguished professor of environmental quality at Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment, shed light on potential water quality impacts of legacy, or historic, lithium mining. They also provide baseline data for future studies exploring how reopening lithium mines in the N.C. Piedmont will likely affect the water quality of drinking water resources nearby.</p> <p>"The world is increasingly relying on lithium for the green-energy transition, but previous studies on the environmental effects of hard-rock lithium mining show mixed results," Vengosh said. "This study provides new, important data to clarify the possible environmental impacts.</p> <p>The area where the Kings Mountain Mine is located was once the largest lithium-producing region in the world. Situated in wooded, rural terrain of the piedmont, the mine opened in the 1950s and was abandoned in the 1980s, when more accessible lithium deposits drew prospectors to South America. The lithium at Kings Mountain primarily exists in granite-like rock called pegmatite, bound to a green-tinged mineral called spodumene.</p> <p>For their study, the researchers collected samples of pegmatite and waste rocks from in and around the mine, as well as samples of tailings—crushed rocks left over from historical spodumene extraction. They also sampled groundwater from the mine and <a href="https://phys.org/tags/surface+water/" rel="tag" class="textTag">surface water</a> from Kings Creek, which flows from the mine. Samples from various piedmont streams provided baseline data on water quality.</p> <div class="w-100 mb-4 ads"> <script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-0536483524803400" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>  <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block; text-align:center;" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-client="ca-pub-0536483524803400" data-ad-slot="8188791252"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script> </div> <p>The researchers pulverized rock samples and mixed them in a solution designed to test how various contaminants might enter the surrounding environment. These laboratory experiments simulate how contaminants in the rocks would leach out under natural conditions. The researchers then analyzed the solutions, as well as the surface water and groundwater samples, for a wide range of metals commonly used to evaluate water quality.</p> <div class="article-gallery lightGallery"> <div data-thumb="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/tmb/2024/what-are-the-effects-o-1.jpg" data-src="https://scx2.b-cdn.net/gfx/news/2024/what-are-the-effects-o-1.jpg" data-sub-html="An example of the granite-like rock called pegmatite, from which lithium is recovered after mining. The lithium at Kings Mountain primarily exists in pegmatite, bound to a green-tinged mineral called spodumene. Credit: Gordon Williams/Duke NSOE"> <figure class="article-img text-center"> <img src="https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2024/what-are-the-effects-o-1.jpg" alt="What are the effects of historic lithium mining on water quality?" title="An example of the granite-like rock called pegmatite, from which lithium is recovered after mining. The lithium at Kings Mountain primarily exists in pegmatite, bound to a green-tinged mineral called spodumene. Credit: Gordon Williams/Duke NSOE"> <figcaption class="text-left text-darken text-truncate text-low-up mt-3"> An example of the granite-like rock called pegmatite, from which lithium is recovered after mining. The lithium at Kings Mountain primarily exists in pegmatite, bound to a green-tinged mineral called spodumene. Credit: Gordon Williams/Duke NSOE </figcaption> </figure> </div> </div> <p>Leaching experiments and water samples analyzed in the study showed common regulated contaminants—including arsenic, lead, copper and nickel—at levels below drinking water and ecological standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.</p> <p>"The fact that we don't see these toxic contaminants was, in some way, a relief, because it suggests that future lithium exploration in North Carolina would not cause major negative water quality effects with respect to these elements," Vengosh said.</p> <p>However, the team found high levels of other metals in the mine site relative to their concentrations in the piedmont water resources.</p> <p>"We detected elevated concentrations of lithium, which was expected, but also found rubidium and cesium at levels you normally don't see in natural waters, and that are not federally regulated," said first author Gordon Williams, a Ph.D. student in Vengosh's lab and the Division of Earth and Climate Sciences. "An outstanding question, then, is how these elements affect human and environmental health."</p> <div class="w-100 my-4 article-main__more bg-light p-3 border"> <p class="mb-3"> Discover the latest in science, tech, and space with over <strong>100,000 subscribers</strong> who rely on Phys.org for daily insights. Sign up for our <a href="https://sciencex.com/help/newsletter/" target="_blank">free newsletter</a> and get updates on breakthroughs, innovations, and research that matter—<strong>daily or weekly</strong>. </p> <form action="#" name="nwsubscribe"> <div class="form-row align-items-start"> <div class="offset-lg-1 col-6 col-sm-8 col-lg-7"> <input type="email" name="email" class="form-control" placeholder="e-mail"> </div> <div class="col-sm-4 col-4 col-lg-3"> <input type="hidden" name="project" value="physorg"> <button type="submit" class="btn btn-sm btn-block btn-info">Subscribe</button> </div> </div> </form> </div> <p>Leaching experiments and evidence from <a href="https://phys.org/tags/water+samples/" rel="tag" class="textTag">water samples</a> also indicated that the legacy lithium mine does not contribute to environmentally harmful acidic runoff commonly associated with other mining operations, like coal mining. Rather, interactions between the ore and waste rock samples and water led to temporary alkaline, or basic, conditions.</p> <p>The study did not address the effects of active lithium mining and processing on water quality, the authors emphasized.</p> <p>"Excavating and crushing ore is just one aspect of lithium mining. Processing—which requires a chemical treatment to separate lithium from spodumene—may include additional chemicals that could potentially affect water quality," Williams said. "When lithium mining ramps up again in this area, processing could have impacts on local <a href="https://phys.org/tags/water+resources/" rel="tag" class="textTag">water resources</a> that we didn't measure," he cautioned.</p> <p>The researchers are now extending their study by assessing drinking water quality across a band of lithium-rich geological terrain in the piedmont. By sampling private wells and surface water, they can better understand the potential impacts of <a href="https://phys.org/tags/lithium/" rel="tag" class="textTag">lithium</a> <a href="https://phys.org/tags/mining/" rel="tag" class="textTag">mining</a> on <a href="https://phys.org/tags/water+quality/" rel="tag" class="textTag">water quality</a> in North Carolina.</p> <div class="article-main__more p-4"> <p><strong>More information:</strong> Gordon D.Z. Williams et al, The potential water quality impacts of hard-rock lithium mining: Insights from a legacy pegmatite mine in North Carolina, USA, <i>Science of The Total Environment</i> (2024). <a data-doi="1" href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.177281" target="_blank">DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.177281</a> <div class="mt-3"> <p> <strong>Journal information:</strong> <a href="https://phys.org/journals/science-of-the-total-environment/"><cite>Science of the Total Environment</cite></a> <a class="icon_open" href="http://www.journals.elsevier.com/science-of-the-total-environment/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> <svg> <use href="https://phys.b-cdn.net/tmpl/v6/img/svg/sprite.svg#icon_open" x="0" y="0"/> </svg> </a> </p> </div> </div> <div class="d-inline-block text-medium mt-4"> <p> Provided by Duke University </p> </div>  <div class="d-none d-print-block"> <div class="mb-4"> <strong>Citation</strong>: Low levels of common contaminants but high levels of other elements in waters linked to abandoned lithium mine (2024, November 21) retrieved 23 November 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2024-11-common-contaminants-high-elements-linked.html </div> <div class="border text-muted p-3"> This document is subject to copyright. 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Low levels of common contaminants but high levels of other elements in waters linked to abandoned lithium mine