Development of semi quantitative method for mercury determination in soils, sediments and small gold mining residues

摘要

A semi quantitative method for analysing mercury in soil, sediment and mining residues was developed and the results compared with the ones from the conventional quantitative methodology, the cold vapour atomic absorption spectrometry, demonstrated its efficiency. For this study, samples collected in Itaituba, Para State, Brazil, with geochemical and mineralogical composition apparently different, were used. A small application study demonstrated that it is possible, using this method, to correlate the mercury concentration with the particle size. In conclusion, the developed alternative method, which is simple and with low-cost, can be used in regions where a preliminary diagnosis is necessary, as well as at programs of environmental surveillance.