Lead and Zinc Metallurgical Slags Mineralogy and Weathering

Base-metal smelters typically produce a large quantity of waste rocks, tailings and slags that are usually stored on site. In the early 1980s, metallurgical slags were considered chemically inert because metals are usually embedded in glass and silicate phases. Recently, several studies showed that metals leaching from slag dumps can lead to severe contamination of soils and water bodies. Predicting their environmental impact requires an understanding of the minerals at microscopic scales as well as the mineral-water interactions, i.e. the chemical and biological weathering techniques applied, the associated weathering rates and mechanisms.