DETERMINATION OF COPPER AND IRON IN WASTE WATER FROM COPPER MINING

In this paper we studied wastewater from the mining industry Cupru Min S.A Roşia Poieni Plant, respectively the sterile deposit from Geamăna, Alba, carrying out a study in order to determine the concentrations of copper and iron in the wastewater covering the sterile deposit. Because the sterile deposit of the Geamana copper mine is covered by waters, which have orange, green and yellow colors, it can be easily seen that they are toxic, polluted waters, and copper and iron concentrations are high. The purpose of this work was to analyze three wastewater samples taken from three different points in the sterile pond and determine copper and iron concentrations by atomic absorption spectroscopy method. Prior to the analysis of the two metals, the pH of the samples and the total suspensions were determined. Since the waste water samples show advanced turbidity and deposits if left to settle, 10 ml of HCl of different concentrations: 10%, 20%, 30% and concentrated acid were added to each of the samples in order to dissolve the metals in the deposits. After analysis, it was observed that for both Cu and Fe, concentrations significantly exceed the regulated MACs for waste water (respectively 0,2 mg/l for Cu and total dissolved metals 2 mg/l).