Main research activities of the Geoelectrochemistry Laboratory are aimed at assessing the environmental hazard from stored mine tailings. Its practical work (e.g. full-scale experiments on natural water drainage through tailings, oxidation kinetics of pyrite and other acid-producers) is primarily focused on areas affected by mine drainage and seepage from ore storage and waste rock piles formed as a result of sulfide ores mining and processing. The study area encompasses the Kemerovo, Chelyabinsk, Orenburg regions, and the Trans-Baikal Territory.
Topicality of sulfide mine wastes storage is conditioned by the necessity to estimate environmental risks and prospects for extracting valuable components from mine tailings. Geochemistry of mine wastes and formation of natural and mining industry-affected landscapes have been studied by the researchers of the Geoelectrochemistry Laboratory for more than 20 years.
Practical applications of the developed thereat systematic approach to studying different technogenic impacts of mine tailings draw heavily on the integrated geochemical, geophysical, and microbiological methods. Among other things, these include : (i) compilation of the inventory of mining tailings storage facilities in Siberia and the Southern Urals, with assessment of quantitative mineralogical composition of mine tailings; (ii) developing the techniques for mine wastes reprocessing for extracting valuable metals.
Research Team
The Geoelectrochemistry Laboratory is a well-built team of professionals, most of them are graduates from Novosibirsk State University with degrees in Geochemistry (Geology and Geophysics Department) and Environmental Chemistry (Natural Sciences Department).
Projects implemented at the laboratory:
Projects supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research:
14-05-00293. "Technogenic-natural systems: models of chemical element migration to identify mechanisms of water and air streams formation " (principal investigator: S. B. Bortnikova).
16-35-60053 " Geochemistry of interactions between drainage flows and natural and modified sorbents: experimental and field studies of the behavior of As-Sb, Zn-Cu-Hg" (Principal Investigator: N. A. Abrosimova).
Russian Science Foundation project No. 15-17-10011 "Biogeochemical monitoring of mining wastes storages with account of microbiology-based mineral transformations "( independent investigator: N. A. Abrosimova).
The Presidential Foundation of the Russian Federation, Project No. 6654.2016.5 “Geo-technogenic systems: of chemical elements migration and accumulation mechanisms inferred from the geochemical data and geoelectrical measurements” (principal investigator: N. V. Yurkevich).
Research projects of the Laboratory based on the topics of interests of the laboratory staff:
- The study of mechanisms of sulfide oxidation in mine tailings, metals transport to mine drainage, their migration along streams, and comparative mobility under different physical and chemical conditions [Abrosimova et al. 2015; Edelev, 2013]; formation of pollutants distribution patterns [Gaskova et al., 2012].
- Development of a comprehensive methodological approach to studying mine technogenesis with application of electrical resistivity methods [Bortnikova, Yurkevich et al., 2013; Yurkevich et al., 2015; Olenchenko et al., 2016].
- Prediction of the speciation of potential acidic drainage from waste rock piles and ore tailings (Edelev, 2013).
- Complex reactive barriers designed for acid drainage neutralization and metal sulfide precipitation [Yurkevich et al., 2012], and electrolysis-based methods for metals extraction from technogenic drainage [patented by Saeva et al., 2012].
- Assessment of accumulated environmental damage caused by contaminated streams, groundwater and soils in the area of sulfide-bearing waste disposal areas [Provornaya and Yurkevich, 2014].
- Estimating trace gas and aerosol emissions resulting from mining technogenesis. Numerical modeling of element transport mechanisms in gas phase in high-temperature technogenic settings [Bortnikova et al., 2016].
The laboratory researchers provide students first-hand experience with the course concepts, and the opportunity to explore methods used by scientists through their teaching and supervising activities, among them:
- The Informatics course lectured by A. Y. Devyatova PhD (geol.-mineral) for students specializing in General and Regional Geology, Department of Geology and Geophysics, Novosibirsk State University (NSU).
- The Ecological Geochemistry course for students specializing in the Environmental Chemistry at the Natural Sciences Department, NSU, and Geochemistry lectured by N. V. Yurkevich, PhD (geol.-mineral) at Novosibirsk State Technical University (NSTU).
Senior and and post-graduate students conduct their research under the guidance of the supervisors (Svetlana B. Bortnikova, Dr Sc, and Nataliya V. Yurkevich, PhD), and some of them have successfully defended their theses and joined the laboratory: Olga Saeva (PhD thesis titled "Interaction of mine drainage with natural geochemical barriers”), D. O. Kucher and E. O. Rybkina in 2016, 2017 and 2018, respectively.