Geochemistry of Surface Samples of the Tailings Deposits in Chile

The National Geological and Mining Service (SERNAGEOMIN, for Servicio Nacional de Geología y
Minería), through the Department of Tailings Deposits, of the National Sub direction of Mining,
generates and publishes this study as a result of the Program of Geochemical Characterization of
Tailings Deposits in Chile. The source information was obtained from samples taken during two
years, corresponding to three sample locations: the surface of the bucket; the surface of the dam
walls; and the downstream soil sediments. The data is delivered in Excel format (version 97-2003),
and can be requested in other formats (CSV, etc.)

As of the date of this version, October 26th, 2017, there are 1,164 records of geochemical data,
corresponding to 427 tailings deposits, out of a total of 720 deposits included in the National Tailings
Cadastre (also generated by the Departmenti).

The Tailings Deposits Department and the Laboratory Department continue working to complete,
by the end of 2018, the 720 existing deposits. During 2017, the geochemical study of depth drilling
of some tailings deposits, which require further characterization (either by environmental or
economic value components), was initiated and shall continue throughout 2018.

These 1,164 data records, comprise 644 records of cuvette samples; 4 records of filtered tailings
deposit samples; 1 record of tailings in paste; 283 records of wall samples; and 232 records of
sediment samples downstream of the deposit.

It should be borne in mind that mining has developed throughout the history of the country, so that
there are very old tailings, not subject to State norms whose location and composition are not,
therefore, known, and usually constitute evidence of what should not be done (for example, using
natural rivers to carry tailings to the coast, using the coastal edge as a site for the final disposal of
massive waste, and generating unforeseen effects on marine and submarine biota). Today,
however, the deposits must meet environmental legal requirements and those specific to mining,
specified in Supreme Decree 248 of the Ministry of Mining (2007). It is possible, therefore, that the
number of registered deposits will continue to change if more antiques are discovered.
Elements and compounds measured by the program
The geochemical characterization of the samples quantifies the concentration of 56 elements and
species of each sample. The measurements are:

 12 Major elements, rock forming minerals, expressed as oxides: silicon (SiO2), aluminium
(Al2O3), titanium (TiO2), iron (Fe2O3), calcium (CaO), magnesium (MgO), manganese (MnO),
sodium (Na2O), potassium (K2O), phosphorus (P2O5), sulphate (SO3) and compounds lost by
calcination (PPC, such as carbonates, for example).
 Percent content of sulphur (S).
 30 common trace elements (below 1%): copper (Cu), vanadium (V), chromium (Cr), cobalt
(Co), nickel (Ni), zinc (Zn), rubidium (Rb), strontium (Sr), zirconium (Zr) niobium (Nb), barium
(Ba), lead (Pb), cesium (Cs), hafnium (Hf), tantalum (Ta), arsenic (As), scandium (Sc), yttrium
( Y), molybdenum (Mo), antimony (Sb), tin (Sn), thorium (Th), silver (Ag), cadmium (Cd),
bismuth (Bi), tungsten (W), uranium (U), gold ( Au), and mercury (Hg).
 14 elementary rare earths: Lanthanum (La), cerium (Ce), praseodymium (Pr), neodymium
(Nd), samarium (Sm), europium (Eu), gadolinium (Gd), terbium (Tb), dysprosium (Dy) ,
holmium (Ho), erbium (Er), thulium (Tm), ytterbium (Yb), and lutetium (Lu).
 The total of major elements is also added, by simple sum.

The methods of analysis are described in the Sernageomin Laboratory.

Tailings according to the extracted metal

In Chile, tailings from extractive metal mining have mostly come from copper and gold. On a smaller
scale, country has some iron and zinc mining. Other metals have been extracted as by-products
(molybdenum, for example), so that there are tailings deposits whose origins are varied, depending
on the metal benefited. In the classified data there are few forms of mining: Copper, (Copper,
Copper-Gold, Copper-Molybdenum, Copper-Gold-Silver, Copper-Silver-Gold and, Copper-Gold-Iron)
and Gold (Gold; Gold-Copper, Gold-Copper-Silver, Gold-Silver and Gold-Zinc). In addition, there are
records of other forms of mining (Iron, Zinc and Zinc-Copper). There are still some records in which
the origin of small deposits, marked with S/I (abbreviation of no information) is unknown.
Economic impact of tailings deposits
The data can be the basis of initial economic information for the possible recovery of valuable
elements in tailings deposits, an idea reviewed by various actors, and in particular the Corporation
for the Promotion of Production (CORFO), through the following projects:

 "Identification, quantification and (bio) technological extraction of minerals / valuable

elements contained in tailings deposits, code 16PTECME-66524"
 "Research and Development for the Recovery of Value Elements from Tailings", code
16PTECME-66627 ".

The elements that can contribute economic value, apart from copper, were expected to be Rare
Earth Elements. Since this Register became public, however, interest fell because no evidence could
be shown. Other valuable elements are, of course, gold, silver, tungsten, molybdenum, etc. More
recently, cadmium had an upsurge of interest. In general, the elements included in the data can
both be a source of economic value or a source of pollutants. Metals, for example, can be valuable
if they are extracted in purified form, but can be contaminants if they are left in a state that can
enter the various cycles of nature. From this observation it can be postulated that the extraction of
all the metallic values -from tailings, prior to deposition- would be an advantageous operation, both
for the market value of the purified elements and for the reduction of costs of Closing Plans, by
ensuring that effectively safe material is available.

If all the metallic values are extracted or if all the acid production capacity is extracted, a harmless
tailings would be available, and closure plans would be simplified, significantly reducing its costs. On
the other hand, Chile does not yet have safe tailings specifications.

Environmental impact of tailings deposits

By averaging the sum of the major rock forming elements, they account for 99.06% of the total mass
of the samples from the deposited tailings. These major elements are innocuous in environmental
terms. Only the rest of the elements analysed (0.94%) could generate an objectionable
concentration, from the point of view of ecosystems and human health.

Of the remaining 0.94%, 0.82% can be accounted for by adding the averages of the metals,
metalloids and non-metals reported. Similarly, when adding the averages of the rare earths, they
total 0.01% of the tailings. It is then concluded that all the elements and compounds measured in
these data, account for 99.89% of the mass contained in the samples. The figure shows the
preponderance of rock-forming compounds, over all other elements measured.

This indicates, of course, that the rest of the elements of the periodic system (which are not
measured) have a mass participation in tailings samples of the order of 0.11% that, although smaller,
it could be important to measure them in the near future, as long as humanity requires valuable
elements that were not quantified here.

Although the "contaminants" in water correspond to a long list, the main compounds of
environmental connotation (CCA) related to solids of mining activity in Chile -to date- have been
copper, chromium, nickel, zinc , lead, arsenic, cadmium and mercury. Since the composition of the
deposits contains CCA, it must be ensured that they are not transferred to the liquid phase (by
leaching and chemical reactions), to avoid contamination of surface water or groundwater.

The data delivered correspond to samples of buckets (cuvettes), dam walls and soil sediments down
the wall. The sediment data are important because they can reflect the utility and importance of
the tailings being properly deposited, according to the current regulations. In general, the sediment
data show lower concentrations than the buckets and walls, showing that the contents of the
deposit are correctly isolated from the environment.

Size of tailings deposits

It is also important to highlight the scale of the deposits, which runs from the very modest deposits
of the Small and Medium Mining (the smallest in the cadastre is 300 tons) to the Large Mining (the
largest in Chile is the Talabre deposit, belonging to CODELCO, in the Commune of Calama,
Antofagasta Region, which at the moment of publishing this information, contained 2100 million
tons). The size is essential when weighing the impacts, be they economic or environmental, because
the geochemical data deliver concentrations (in grams per ton (g/t), which is equivalent to parts per
million (ppm)) that when multiplied by the mass of a deposit show the real, quantitative importance
of each element or compound of each tailings deposit.

In terms of scale, of course, active deposits continue to increase their tailings content, while those
that are not active or abandoned have an already fixed mass.

Conclusions
The work developed by the Tailings Deposits Department, in its Tailings Deposits Characterization
Program, has taken samples of 720 Chilean tailing deposits registered by the same department. As
a result of this work, the data of elements and compounds measured by the Program have been
delivered to the community, covering 427 deposits, while the measurements of the 293 remaining
deposits will be delivered in successive updates. The Department is also engaged in taking deeper
samples, from the deposits of greater environmental or economic importance.

It is important to note that a brief comparison between samples from the bucket (cuvette) with
sediment samples for most deposits, show that the concentration of the environmental concern
compounds, decreases ostensibly. Therefore, the safe deposition is stressed, according to the
standards, regulations and laws, since tailings must remain contained and isolated from ecosystems
to protect the health of people and the environment. The Program will continue to provide valuable
tools for a better understanding of the problems and the phenomenology associated with tailings
deposits. This effort seeks a more informed participation of all the actors involved, which -in
practice- are all citizens, given the importance of mining activity for Chile. We do hope that this
program will continue over time, delivering the best possible information.

Notes
The Tailings Depository Department publishes these data in a preliminary form, since they
correspond to a program under development at the time of this publication.

The data have been identified as provisional and are subject to revision, following the spirit of the
USGS standards, regarding the public delivery of data, contained in section 500.24 of the USGS
Manual.
Acknowledgments
The Tailings Geochemical Characterization Program has the support of SERNAGEOMIN and the
Ministry of Mines. The program was based on data from the National Tailings Deposit Cadastre. The
exhaustive and arduous task of field visits for collection of samples was carried out by the
professionals of this Department: Mariano Gajardo; Roberto Fernández; Sebastian Urbano; Gullibert
Novoa, Cristóbal Carrasco and Osvaldo Ramírez. Leandro Herrera worked on the data validation,
analysis and publication. All team members participated in the review and discussion of results. This
research would not have been possible without the enthusiastic and excellent contribution of
Eugenia Fonseca and Juan Bustamante, from the Laboratory Department of the SERNAGEOMIN,
where each of these data was quantified. This work - of national scope but of global level and impact
- has characterized all the known deposits of the country, and the Sernageomin Regional Offices
played a critical role, through the contribution of infrastructure and support from drivers, without
whom this excellent work would have been unattainable.

María Francisca Falcón Hernández

Head of the Tailings Deposits Department
National Sub direction of Mining
Servicio Nacional de Geología y Minería
Structure of the Geochemical Cadastre (Version 2, 26/10/2017).

Data values
The data are of two kinds: those that identify the sample and those that contain the concentration
values of species in the samples. Those that specify concentrations of the measured species are, for
the most part, numerical. There are two exceptions:
• A blank cell reflects that concentration or data was not measured.
• A cell with the character "<" (less than) indicates that the number below is the instrumental
resolution of the method used to measure that concentration (Note: decimal fraction with ","). It is
known, therefore, that the value of the species is less than the ability to detect the instrument,
which is different than knowing that a species is absent (ie zero concentration).
The data characterized by text (for example, the name of an owner) have been reduced to the ASCII
characters (American acronym of American Standard Code for Information Interchange - American
Standard Code for the Exchange of Information); that is, the "Ñ" have been replaced by "N" and all
the accents of the accented vowels have been eliminated. This is an uncomfortable presentation for
Spanish speakers, but essential to avoid confusion in the international use of data, since there are
other languages that have a diversity of symbols less than Spanish.
Structure of geochemical data registers (lines)
Each record corresponds to a sample and generates a data line.
The first 4 registers contain details of the identification of the data. The fifth record contains a
header with the labels of each data (column), specified in the data definition, in the table below in
this document.
From the sixth record (up to 1,170) the data begins, organized according to the structure defined
below.
The records are arranged according to the Region of Chile where the deposit is located, and
subsequently: "Activity status" (active or not); mining company; and finally, origin of the sample
(Bucket, Wall or Sediment). Interested persons can order as they see fit for the purposes of the
analysis they perform.
The first field of the record is an identification number, the IDQ (Geochemical Data Identifier), which
correlates the records and its only utility is the identification with the data systems of the Tailings
Department (if the user needs details of a record, for example, you can quote this number).
The second field is the name of the Company that operates the tailings deposit of the registry at the
time of publication of the study.
The third field is the name that receives the deposit.
The fourth field specifies the type of mining (copper, gold, etc.) from which the tailings come (see:
Tailings of mining according to beneficiary metal).
The fifth field records the data of the tailings mass in the bucket, in tons, at the current date, or in
its absence, the data closest to the current date. In this field it only makes sense to specify the mass
in the bucket, so that if the data record is of wall or sediment, instead of a number, the text "DOES
NOT APPLY" appears.
The sixth field describes the State (already mentioned in the third paragraph of this section), active
or not; The State can be one of three values: "active", "not active" or "abandoned".
The seventh field records the place where the sample was taken. Its value can be bucket, wall, or
sediment.
Then specify (8th field) the region of the country, (9th field) the commune, (10th field) the North
coordinates and (11th field) East, of the WGS84 datum.
Then, from column 12 onwards, the values of the geochemical species (elements and compounds)
are found for each record. The data is organized as described in the Table below.

Structure of Tailings Geochemistry data fields

Each record contains 68 fields (or data), housed in a column structure:

Col Item Description

A IDQ Identifier number of each record.
B Company Registered company for the deposit.
C Deposit Registered name of the deposit.
D Resource Type of mining that originates the deposit (bucket and wall only)
E Mass (t) Tonnage (maximum) of the tailings in the bucket.
F State Active, Inactive or Abandoned.
G Origin The sample may come from Bucket, Wall or Sediment.
H Region According to the regional classification of the country.
I Commune Identification of the commune where the deposit is.
J Coord. N Coordinates North UTM, in meters, datum WGS84.
K Coord. E Coordinates East UTM, in meters, datum WGS84.
L Cu Copper concentration in the solid, in gram per ton (g / t).
M V Vanadium concentration in the solid, in gram per ton (g / t).
N Cr Chromium concentration in the solid, in gram per ton (g / t).
O Co Cobalt concentration in the solid, in gram per ton (g / t).
P Neither Nickel concentration in the solid, in gram per ton (g / t).
Q Zn Zinc in concentration the solid, in gram per ton (g / t).
R Rb Rubidium concentration in the solid, in gram per ton (g / t).
S Mr Strontium concentration in the solid, in gram per ton (g / t).
T Y Yttrium concentration in the solid, in gram per ton (g / t).
U Zr Zirconium concentration in the solid, in gram per ton (g / t).
V Nb Niobium concentration in the solid, in gram per ton (g / t).
W Ba Barium concentration in the solid, in gram per ton (g / t).
X Pb Lead concentration in the solid, in gram per ton (g / t).
Y Sc Scandium concentration in the solid, in gram per ton (g / t).
Z Cs Caesium concentration in the solid, in gram per ton (g / t).
AA Hf Hafnium concentration in the solid, in gram per ton (g / t).
AB Ta Tantalum concentration in the solid, in gram per ton (g / t).
AC Th Thorium concentration in the solid, in gram per ton (g / t).
AD U Uranium concentration in the solid, in gram per ton (g / t).
AE As Arsenic concentration in the solid, in gram per ton (g / t).
AF Mo Molybdenum concentration in the solid, (g / t).
AG Sb Antimony concentration in the solid, (g / t).
AH Sn Tin concentration in the solid, in gram per ton (g / t).
AI Ag Silver concentration in the solid, in gram per ton (g / t).
AJ CD Cadmium concentration in the solid, in gram per ton (g / t).
AK Bi Bismuth concentration in the solid, in gram per ton (g / t).
AL W Tungsten concentration in the solid, (g / t).
AM S (%) Sulphur percentage in the sample, major elements
AN SiO2 (%) Percentage silicon, as oxide in the sample, major elements.
AO Al2O3 (%) Aluminium percentage, as oxide in the sample.
AP TiO2 (%) Titanium percentage, as oxide in the sample, major elements.
AQ Fe2O3 (%) Iron percentage, as oxide in the sample, major elements.
AR CaO (%) Calcium percentage, as oxide in the sample, major elements.
AS MgO (%) Magnesium percentage, as oxide in the sample.
AT MnO (%) Manganese percentage, as oxide in the sample.
AU Na2O (%) Sodium percentage, as oxide in the sample, major elements.
AV K2O (%) Potassium percentage, as oxide in the sample.
AW P2O5 (%) Phosphorus percentage, as oxide in the sample.
AX PPC (%) Loss by Calcination Percentage (e.g. carbonates).
AY SO3 (%) Sulphate percentage, as oxide in the sample.
AZ SUM % Sum of the major elements, (rock-forming minerals).
BA The Lanthanum concentration in the solid (g / t).
BB EC Cerium concentration in the solid (g / t).
BC Pr Praseodymium concentration in the solid (g / t), rare earths.
 BD Nd Neodymium concentration in the solid, (g / t), rare earth.
BE YE Samarium concentration in the solid, (g / t), rare earths.
BF Eu Europium concentration in the solid, (g / t), rare earths.
BG Gd Gadolinium concentration in the solid (g / t), rare earths.
BH Tb Terbium concentration in the solid (g / t), rare earths.
BI Dy Dysprosium concentration in the solid (g / t), rare earths.
BJ Ho Holmium concentration in the solid (g / t), rare earths.
BK Er Erbium concentration in the solid (g / t), rare earths.
BL Tm Thulium concentration in the solid (g / t), rare earths.
BM Yb Ytterbium concentration in the solid (g / t), rare earths.
BN Lu Lutetium concentration in the solid (g / t), rare earths.
BO Au Gold concentration in the solid, in gram per ton (g / t).
BP Hg Mercury concentration in the solid, in gram per ton (g / t)
lhz(22/02/2018)

Santiago de Chile, 26th October 2017

ii
See cadastre in http://www.sernageomin.cl/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Catastro-Depositos-de-Relaves-
en-Chile2016.xls