GEOCHEMISTRY CONTRIBUTING TO THE REHABILITATION OF THE WISMUT URANIUM MINES, GERMANY

摘要

A study has been made of the geochemistry of the Ronneburg mining district as input to the overall management strategy for the rehabilitation of the mine site. The study drew on the geological data and information store developed over the forty years of mineral exploration and mining at Ronneburg, and on chemical data from the literature which described the chemical processes of weathering, oxidation, dissolution and precipitation of minerals. The geochemical processes were divided into three groups based on their rate of reaction. Fast processes were assumed to proceed to equilibrium and were modeled using equilibrium chemistry equations; slow processes were assumed to be proceeding at a quasi-steady state rate and were modeled using chemical rate equations; very slow processes were assumed to have no role in describing the geochemistry for rehabilitation purposes.