Abstract

ZAMORA ECHENIQUE, Gerardo; LAFUENTE CRUZ, Jaime  and  HINOJOSA CARRASCO, Octavio. Propuesta de rehabilitación ambiental del pasivo minero de Japo - Santa Fe. REV. MAMYM [online]. 2020, vol.5, n.1, pp.3-18. ISSN 2519-5352.

Abstract The mining operations carried out in many regions of the country, without considering the environmental component in its processes, have generated large volumes of waste and tailings; those that, from natural oxidation phenomena, generate Acid Rock Drains (DAR) that, due to their high content of dissolved toxic heavy metals and their high acidity, constitute potential sources of contamination of surface and underground aquifers. In the Japo - Santa Fe Mining District, the Japo tailings are located in the basin of Sora Sora. According to their high Net Neutralization Potential (NNP) of - 470.4 kg CaCO3 / ton and their contribution of heavy metal load, these tails have been classified as the Mining Environmental Liability of "greater potential generating acid drainage" in Bolivia; and therefore, "prioritized" for immediate remediation. The acidic rock drains generated by the Japo PAM have a pH of 2.5 and high concentrations of dissolved heavy metals, which drain directly into the watershed of the sector, and finally reach Lake Poopó. The objective of this research work is limited to technical, economic and environmental study of the remediation of the Japo - Santa Fe mining environmental liability, through the use of dry covers. From predictions of the geotechnical behavior of soils in the sector through the use of MK - Mo-del, it has been possible to demonstrate that the soils of the sector can be used as dry SDR covers and that they can store rainwater and then by evapotranspiration, prevent them from reaching the PAM; therefore, they constitute a technically viable and environmentally effective alternative. The cost of implementing SDR coverage for the remediation of Frankeita's environmental liability is $ 493,347.7; that is, it has a cost of 19.73 $us/m² or 0.235 $us/ton.

Keywords : Environmental liabilities; acid rock drainage; restoration; dry cover.