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ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Potential Toxic Heavy Metals in Antimony
Mining Area Waste Slag Dump: Content,
Leaching Characteristics, Risk Assessment
1
Hunan University of Science and Technology, School of Earth Science and Space Information Engineering, Hunan,
Xiangtan, 411201, China
2
Hunan Geological Disaster Monitoring and Early Warning and Emergency Rescue Engineering Technology Research
Center, Hunan, Changsha, 410004, China
Submission date: 2024-07-14
Final revision date: 2024-10-01
Acceptance date: 2024-10-28
Online publication date: 2025-01-15
Publication date: 2025-11-14
Corresponding author
Bozhi Ren
Hunan University of Science and Technology, School of Earth Science and Space Information Engineering, Hunan, Xiangtan, 411201, China
Hunan University of Science and Technology, School of Earth Science and Space Information Engineering, Hunan, Xiangtan, 411201, China
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2025;34(6):8365-8376
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
The waste slag produced from antimony mining contains a large amount of toxic heavy metals,
which pose serious risks to the ecological environment and human health. This study selected antimony
mining area waste slag and leachate as research subjects, applying the geoaccumulation index method,
Nemerow pollution index method, potential ecological risk index method, and health risk assessment
model for risk evaluation. The results indicate that the average values of Pb, As, Cd, and Sb in the
waste slag exceed the soil background values of Hunan Province. In the leachate, Sb significantly
exceeds the standard limits, with 67% of samples exceeding the standard threshold. Spatially, As and
Sb show a trend of decreasing from south to north, while the spatial distribution of other heavy metals
varies greatly. The pollution index assessment method shows severe contamination of Sb and Cd in the
waste slag, with leachate primarily affected by Sb pollution. The potential ecological risk index method
indicates that heavy metals in both waste slag and leachate pose extremely high and high ecological
risks, respectively. The health risk assessment indicates that drinking water is the primary pathway
contributing to health risks, with significant non-carcinogenic risks posed by Sb and As. Carcinogenic
risks for Cr and As exceeded the potential carcinogenic risk limits for two populations and two
pathways. The results of this study provide a scientific basis for the prevention and control of heavy
metal pollution in water resources in antimony mining areas.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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