Speciation of mercury in mine waste: case study of abandoned and active gold mine sites at the Bibiani–Anwiaso–Bekwai area of South Western Ghana

Speciation determines toxicity, transport pathways and residence time of a metal in different compartments of the environment. This study investigated the speciation of mercury in soils, derived from sites known for dumping of mine wastes in the Bibiani–Anwiaso–Bekwai district, a gold mining community of the Western Region of Ghana. Soil samples were taken from the surface; depths of 20, 40 and 60 cm from mine waste at both abandoned and active mine sites. Each sample was analysed for total mercury, organic mercury and elemental mercury. After sample treatment, digestion and reduction with stannous chloride (SnCl2), total mercury content was determined using the Inductively Coupled Plasma—Optical Emissions Spectrometer (ICP–OES). Organic mercury content was determined employing a differential technique after disposing of elemental mercury by heating. Total mercury content in samples ranged from 0.067 to 0.876 mg/kg for surface soils. The same soil of depths 20, 40 and 60 cm had total mercury from 0.102 to 1.066, 0.037 to 4.037 and 0.191 to 4.998 mg/kg, respectively. For organic mercury, concentrations range from 0.012 to 0.260 mg/kg for surface soil. Soil depths of 20, 40 and 60 cm had organic mercury concentrations from 0.016 to 0.653, 0.041 to 1.093 and 0.101 to 2.546 mg/kg respectively. Elemental mercury concentrations in surface soils, soils at depths of 20, 40 and 60 cm ranged from 0.043 to 0.780; 0.017 to 0.749; 0.014 to 2.944 and 0.009 to 2.452 mg/kg respectively. Among the sites studied, only galamsey tailings (GM) showed a trend of increasing total mercury level with increasing depth. For the other sites, trends were not defined. There has been no defined trend for elemental mercury with depth at any of the sampling sites. Just as with total mercury, it was only GM that showed an increasing trend of organic mercury concentration with depth.