Glahder, C.M., Søndergaard, J., Asmund, G. & Rigét, F. 2010: Environmental monitoring at the Nalunaq Gold Mine, South Greenland, 2010. National Environmental Research Institute, Aarhus University. 32 pp. - NERI Technical Report No. 811.
This seventh monitoring study was carried out in the Nalunaq gold mining area, Nanortalik, South Greenland, on 25-31 August 2010. No ore had been shipped to foreign gold production since the last monitoring study in August 2009. Most work during 2009-2010 has dealt with the excavation of a production chamber inside the mine and the preparation of the gravimetric and chemical gold separation. Parts of the low grade ore have been transported from the pier to the mine.
Blue mussels, brown seaweed and shorthorn sculpin were sampled at 4 marine stations in the Kirkespir Bay. Resident Arctic char were caught in the river and lichens Cetraria nivalis were collected at 20 stations in the valley and along the bay. In addition, lichens were transplanted from an uncontaminated area (AMI1) to the mining area (Fig. 1). Collected samples were analysed for 11 elements (Hg, Cd, Pb, Zn, Cu, Cr, Ni, As, Se, Co and Au) and the results were compared both to background levels and to previous monitoring studies.
The impact from the mining activities on the marine environment was found to be very low in 2010. No elevated concentrations were found in mussels and in sculpin livers, while seaweed had slightly elevated concentrations of Co at one sampling station situated near mouth of the Kirkespir River. During the period 2006-2010, only Co was consistently elevated in seaweed and only at the same station.
In resident Arctic char livers, average concentrations were not elevated in 2010 compared to baseline concentrations. During 2004-2010, only minor elevations of Cr, Co and Cd were found in 2004 and 2006.
In lichens, concentrations of Cu, Cr, As and Co were, like in previous years, significantly elevated compared to the background levels in the stockpile and the mine area. In 2010, element elevations in these two areas were 2-3 times for Cu and Cr, 5-8 times for As and 4-9 times for Co. The elevated concentrations are likely to be an effect of dust from the road.
Temporal trends during 2004-2010 of the concentrations of the four elements in the two areas described above showed a non-linear course with a decrease in 2010 for all elements in both areas. Most pronounced was the decrease in the camp and mine area. This trend can be explained by limited mining activities in 2010.
We tested the relationship between the concentrations of Cu, Cr, As and Co in lichens and the perpendicular distance to the road. All concentrations of the four elements showed a significantly decrease with increasing distance. Concentrations of Cu, As and Co above the background level could be found to a distance of about 1000 m from the road, while concentrations of Cr met the baseline level about 500 m from the road. In 2010, concentrations of elements in the transplanted lichens had decreased to lower levels than the concentrations in the transplanted lichens in 2009 and 2008.
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