EVALUATION OF HEAVY METAL MOBILITY FROM ABANDONED LEAD AND ZINC MINING AREA INTO 
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER

Christopher Green and Chulsung Kim
Department of Natural and Applied Science, University of Dubuque, Dubuque, IA 
52001

There is a 60-acre abandoned lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn) mining area in northwestern 
Illinois. The primary residual minerals are metal sulfides such as galena (PbS), 
sphalerite (ZnS) and pyrite (FeS2). The drainage area reaches to Smallpox Creek 
which flows into the Mississippi River potentially contributing heavy metal for 
decades.  This study was conducted to evaluate the mobility of heavy metals from 
the abandoned mining area by determination of the amount of metals in water and 
sediments around the drainage areas. In addition to Pb and Zn, various other 
heavy metals such as cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), iron 
(Fe), manganese (Mn), and nickel (Ni) in aqueous and solid phases were 
determined using atomic absorption spectroscopy following EPA methods 3005A and 
3050B, respectively. For the aqueous phases, total recoverable metals and 
dissolved metals were determined separately to investigate the degree of 
contribution of dissolved and suspended metal particles to the mobility. 
According to the obtained results, significant amounts of Pb, Fe, Cu, and Mn 
contents were observed in the sediments and aqueous samples while minor amounts 
of Ni, Cr, and Co were detected. Various heavy metal contents in water and 
sediments will be presented. 

Keywords: heavy metal, mining, Illinois, mobility, particulate, dissolved