Abandoned Smolnik mine (Slovakia) - a catchment area affected by mining activities

Smolnik is a historical Cu-mining area that was exploited from the 14th century to 1990. The Smolnik mine was definitively closed and flooded in 1990-1994. Acid mine drainage discharging from the flooded mine (pH = 3.83, Fe = 542 mg/l, SO42- = 3642 mg/l, Cu = 1880 mu g/l, Zn = 9599 mu g/l, As = 108 mu g/l) acidified and contaminated the Smolnik Creek water, which transported pollution into the Hnilec River catchment. The Smolnik mine waste area has been used as a model area to document pollution of waters, stream sediments, and soils by metals and other toxic elements. Major goals of this complex study were to document creek water transport of the main pollutants (Fe, sulphates, Cu, Al, As, etc.) in the form of suspended solids, to investigate elements mobility in common mine waste (rock and processing waste heaps and tailing impoundment) and in the soil on the basis of neutralization and leach experiments. Different methodologies and techniques for sampling and chemical and mineralogical characterization of samples were used and checked to evaluate environmental risk of this abandoned mine area.