The geological problems of Siberia associated with the development of nonferrous metallurgy

Abstract

An analysis of statistical data has shown that most Russia’s cities with unfavorable ecological conditions refer to the Siberian Federal District. This is due to considerable amounts of atmospheric emissions from large industrial enterprises with imperfect equipment and technologies as well as to the unfavorable conditions of diffusion of dust and gas emissions. Attention is given to the role of nonferrous metallurgy, including aluminum smelting, in environmental impairment. It is shown that the pollutant emissions not only pollute the atmosphere, but also when returning to land surface, they alter the soil-geochemical habitat conditions for vegetation and animals and lower the quality of human life. The shifting of aluminum smelters to Siberia and the construction of major plants pose a threat of impairment in the ecological situation over a significant part of the territory, which is illustrated with the impact of pollutants from several aluminum smelters. Thus, in spite of the fact that the aluminum smelters of Khakassia are provided with up-to-date equipment, their 30-year-long operation has led to formation of a technogenic geochemical anomaly with an area of about 80 km², containing 0.05 to 0.2% of the total amount of fluorine in the 0–15 cm topsoil, and water-soluble fluorine from 1 (10 mg/kg) to 3 MAC. The investigations show that the Soderberg method when used to obtain aluminum in large amounts (0.8–1 mln. t per year) is not as ecologically safe as advertised. It is therefore necessary to perfect the technologies used or to decrease the amount of aluminum produced.