Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand abstracts
The current environmental impact of base-metal mining at the Tui Mine, Te
Aroha, New Zealand
Hutham Sabti*, Md. M. Hossain**, Robert R. Brooks*+ and Robert B.
Stewart*
*Soil and Earth Sciences, Inst. of Natural Resources, Massey University,
Palmerston North.
**Industrial Research Ltd., Gracefield Research Centre, PO Box 31-310, Lower
Hutt.
+Corresponding author.
The current environmental impact of base metal mining at the Tui Mine, Te Aroha
and gold mining near Waihi, was investigated by analysis of local waters,
stream sediments, and aquatic vegetation. X-ray diffraction analysis of heavy
metal fractions in stream sediments showed the presence of pyrite in the upper
reaches of the Tunakohoia and Tui Streams that drain the mineralised reefs and
Tui tailings dam. Relatively immobile lead (galena) was retained close to the
source, whereas copper and zinc minerals were more mobile and distributed
further downstream from the areas of mineralisation. Gold was determined in
sediments from the Ohinemuri and Waitekauri Rivers along with other heavy
metals derived from sulphide mineralisation at Waihi and Waitekauri. Analysis
of waters from the Tui and Tunakohoia Streams showed concentrations of arsenic,
cadmium, lead and zinc above recommended levels for potable water in the upper
parts of these waterways. The discharge of these streams into the Waihou River
(sampled upstream from Te Aroha and downstream to past Paeroa) did not have any
significant effect on heavy-metal concentrations in this river. Aquatic
macrophytes sampled in the Waihou, Ohinemuri and Waitekauri Rivers had very
high heavy-metal concentrations compared with the ambient water and should be
considered as potentially useful for assessing the impact of low-metal fluxes
into the waters. Gold was detected in aquatic macrophytes from streams draining
both the Martha Mine at Waihi and the Golden Cross Mine at Waitekauri and
indicated the possibility of prospecting for gold by analysis of these plants.
Keywords arsenic; cadmium; copper; gold; lead; zinc; stream
waters; macrophytes; stream sediments
(c) Journal of The Royal Society of New Zealand,
Volume 30, Number 2, June 2000, pp 197-208
PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (615K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)
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