VITRIFIED METALLURGICAL WASTES AFTER ZINC AND LEAD PRODUCTION FROM THE DUMP IN RUDA SLaSKA IN THE ASPECT OF MINERALOGICAL AND CHEMICAL STUDIES

Because of advantageous technical parameters metallurgical wastes are often re-used in economy, mainly in order to produce different types of aggregates. When introducing metallurgical wastes into the environment it is necessary to learn their mineralogical and chemical composition, on the basis of which it is possible to evaluate the content of heavy metals in the wastes, their connection to the wastes' components and at the same time a possibility of release and migration of metals to the environment. The paper characterizes the mineral and chemical composition of vitrified metallurgical wastes after zinc and lead production from the old dump in Ruda Slaska. There are also references to studies on metallurgical wastes conducted earlier. It has been stated that a dominant component of wastes is glaze, in whose environment there occur metallic precipitations and fine crystallites of silicate phases. The studied wastes may be used, for instance, in highway engineering as one of the composites to produce aggregates thanks to low content of heavy metals and poor weathering (despite long-term storage on a dumping ground), as well as due to low metal leaching.