2012 Volume 10 Issue 3 Pages 253-265
An onsite survey of heavy metal pollution in the environment, including tailings, soil, and water around Cho Dien mine was conducted. There is considerable amount of heavy metal pollutants, such as As, Cu, Cd, Pb, Zn, present at various levels in soil, surface water, and drinking water. Note that, most of the soil samples are being severely polluted with Pb, Zn, Cd and As. The results showed that 100% of soil samples contained Pb and Zn exceeding the Vietnamese standards. Tailings sample was found to contain elevated levels of these pollutants. Overall, surface water and drinking water around the mining area were found to have low As, Cd, and Cu content. Meanwhile, there have been quality problems for drinking water and surface water containing relatively high concentrations of Pb, with 45.4% and 40% of total samples exceeding the allowable standard, respectively. High concentrations of Pb were found in some water samples collected from sites close to the mining area and tailings dam. Mining wastes and tailings are sources of heavy metal pollution and may result in ecotoxicological effects on terrestrial, groundwater and aquatic ecosystems. On the other hand, the source identification of contaminants was made partially by the examination of the distribution map and also based on what other researchers mentioned.