**4. Geoenvironmental characterization of sulfide mine tailings**

The results of the mineralogical and geochemical characterization of the samples collected from tailings, soils, air, water, and watercourse sediments are

**93**

**Table 2.**

*Geoenvironmental Characterization of Sulfide Mine Tailings*

**Mine district Iberian Pyrite Belt Cartagena-La** 

*(SC), and Las Moreras (LM). Ta: tailings; Co: colluvial; and WS: watercourse sediments.*

*Semi-quantitative mineralogical composition (wt%) of the studied samples.*

presented and discussed here. Morphological evolution over time from Brunita and San Quintín mine ponds is presented too, as well as the geophysical study concerning the structure and infilling of ponds and the possible presence of acidic water

The mineralogical composition of tailings, colluvial, watercourse sediments, and soil samples has been inferred from the X-ray diffraction studies (**Table 2**). The following nomenclature has been used for tailing-mineral identification: primary minerals, those minerals that constitute ore and gangue assemblages originally deposited in the waste dumps, and secondary minerals, those deposited within the dumps by precipitation from metal-rich waters derived from acid mine drainage. The nearly homogeneous mineralogical composition of mine tailings is mainly composed of primary gangue minerals from the volcanic or metamorphic host rocks: quartz (30–85 wt%), illite (5–15 wt%), feldspar (5–10 wt%), and chlorite (5–10 wt%). Minor gangue minerals appear in important amounts in some of the areas: siderite (15 wt%) in Brunita. The most important feature of the mineralogical composition of these deposits is the metallic ore mineral contents (25–40 wt%). Significant amounts of pyrite (10–35 wt%), sphalerite (5–10 wt%), and/or galena (5–10 wt%) have been identified in mine tailings (**Table 2**). These high values are probably related to

**Unión**

**Study area LN MR MC BR SQ SQ SC SC LM LM Sample Ta Ta Ta Ta Ta Co Ta WT Ta WT Quartz** 85 35 35 30 70 80 40 45 50 40 **Illite** — 10 5 5 15 10 — — — 20 **Feldspar** — 10 5 — — — 5 30 5 5 **Chlorite** 5 5 5 10 10 10 — — 5 10 **Calcite** — — — — — — — — — 20 **Siderite** — — — 15 — — — — — — **Pyrite** — 25 35 30 — — 10 5 15 — **Sphalerite** — 10 5 5 — — 5 5 10 — **Galena** — — — — — — 10 5 5 — **Arsenopyrite** — — 5 — — — — — — — **Magnetite** — — 5 — — — — — — — **Jarosite** 5 5 — — — — 15 5 5 — **Rozenite** — — 5 — — — — — — — **Goethite** 5 — — — — — — — — — **Hematite** — — — — — — 5 — 5 — **Alunite** — — — — — — — 5 — — **Gypsum** — — 5 5 5 — 10 — — 5 *La Naya (LN), Monterromero (MR), Mina Concepción (MC), Brunita (BR), San Quintín (SQ ), San Cristóbal* 

**Alcudia Valley**

**Mazarrón**

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.84795*

**4.1 Mineralogical characterization**

flows.

presented and discussed here. Morphological evolution over time from Brunita and San Quintín mine ponds is presented too, as well as the geophysical study concerning the structure and infilling of ponds and the possible presence of acidic water flows.
