Geochemical Controls on Uranium Release from Neutral-pH Rock Drainage Produced by Weathering of Granite, Gneiss, and Schist

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Geochemical Controls on Uranium Release from Neutral-pH Rock Drainage Produced by Weathering of Granite, Gneiss, and Schist Skierszkan, Elliott Karl; Dockrey, John W.; Mayer, K. Ulrich; Bondici, Viorica F.; McBeth, Joyce M.; Beckie, Roger D.

Abstract

We investigated geochemical processes controlling uranium release in neutral-pH (pH ≥ 6) rock drainage (NRD) at a prospective gold deposit hosted in granite, schist, and gneiss. Although uranium is not an economic target at this deposit, it is present in the host rock at a median abundance of 3.7 µg/g, i.e., above the average uranium content of the Earth’s crust. Field bin and column waste-rock weathering experiments using gneiss and schist mine waste rock produced circumneutral-pH (7.6 to 8.4) and high-alkalinity (41 to 499 mg/L as CaCO₃) drainage, while granite produced drainage with lower pH (pH 4.7 to >8) and lower alkalinity (

Item Metadata

Title	Geochemical Controls on Uranium Release from Neutral-pH Rock Drainage Produced by Weathering of Granite, Gneiss, and Schist
Creator	Skierszkan, Elliott Karl; Dockrey, John W.; Mayer, K. Ulrich; Bondici, Viorica F.; McBeth, Joyce M.; Beckie, Roger D.
Publisher	Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
Date Issued	2020-12-09
Description	We investigated geochemical processes controlling uranium release in neutral-pH (pH ≥ 6) rock drainage (NRD) at a prospective gold deposit hosted in granite, schist, and gneiss. Although uranium is not an economic target at this deposit, it is present in the host rock at a median abundance of 3.7 µg/g, i.e., above the average uranium content of the Earth’s crust. Field bin and column waste-rock weathering experiments using gneiss and schist mine waste rock produced circumneutral-pH (7.6 to 8.4) and high-alkalinity (41 to 499 mg/L as CaCO₃) drainage, while granite produced drainage with lower pH (pH 4.7 to >8) and lower alkalinity (
Subject	uranium; sorption; neutral-rock drainage; mine waste rock; geochemical modeling; weathering; aqueous complexation
Genre	Article
Type	Text
Language	eng
Date Available	2021-01-06
Provider	Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights	CC BY 4.0
DOI	10.14288/1.0395471
URI	http://hdl.handle.net/2429/76984
Affiliation	Science, Faculty of; Non UBC; Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Department of
Citation	Minerals 10 (12): 1104 (2020)
Publisher DOI	10.3390/min10121104
Peer Review Status	Reviewed
Scholarly Level	Faculty
Rights URI	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Aggregated Source Repository	DSpace

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