Sudbury/Ontario

A member of the platinum group, ruthenium occurs native with other members of the group in ores found in the Ural mountains and in North and South America. It is also found along with other platinum metals in small but commercial quantities in pentlandite of the Sudbury, Ontario, nickel-mining region, and in pyroxinite deposits of South Africa. 

Platinum occurs native, accompanied by small quantities of iridium, osmium, palladium, ruthenium, and rhodium, all belonging to the same group of metals. These are found in the alluvial deposits of the Ural mountains, of Columbia, and of certain western American states. Sperrylite, occurring with the nickel-bearing deposits of Sudbury, Ontario, is the source of a considerable amount of metal. 

Osmium occurs in iridosule and in platinum-bearing river sands of the Urals, North America, and South America. It is also found in the nickel-bearing ores of Sudbury, Ontario region along with other platinum metals. While the quantity of platinum metals in these ores is very small, the large tonnages of nickel ores processed make commercial recovery possible. 

The 7th of April University, Al-Zawia-Libya - Laurantian University, Sudbury,Ontario, Canada, P3E 2C6 E-mail SamirKarshman hotmail. com... 

About 70% of the western world s supply of nickel comes from iron and nickel sulfide ores that were brought close to the surface nearly 2 billion years ago by the violent impact of a huge meteor at Sudbury, Ontario. The ore is first roasted (heated in air) to form nickel(II) oxide, which is reduced to the metal either elec-trolytically or by reaction with hydrogen gas in the first step of the Mond process ... 

Environmental benefits of Emission Controls. Information in Figure 5 illustrate that the emission of sulphur in eastern North America has declined over the past decade. This decline allows for a possible verification of the dose-response relationships on which the environmental concerns for emissions have been based. A decline in sulphate deposition in Nova Scotia has apparently resulted in a decrease in acidity of eleven rivers over the period 1971-73 to 1981-82 (47), In the Sudbury, Ontario area where emissions have dechned by over 50% between 1974-76 and 1981-83, a resurvey of 209 lakes shows that most lakes have now become less acidic. Twenty-one lakes that had a pH < 5.5 in 1974-76 showed an average decline in acidity of 0.3 pH units over the period (48), Surveys of 54 lakes in the Algoma region of Ontario have shown a rapid response to a decline in sulphate deposition. Two lakes without fish in 1979 have recovered populations as pH of the water moved above 5.5 (49). Evidence is accumulating to support the hypothesis of benefits that were projected as a consequence of emission controls. This provides increased confidence in the projections. 

Gawel JE, Trick CG, Morel FM. 2001. Phytochelatins are bioindicators of atmospheric metal exposure via direct foliar uptake in trees near Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. Environ Sci Technol 35 2108-2113. 

Richardson JM (1995) Certified reference materials programme at the Geoscience Laboratories, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. Analyst 120 1513-1518. 

Freedman B, Hutchinson TC (1980) Effects of smelter pollutants on forest litter decomposition near a nickel copper smelter at Sudbury, Ontario. Can J Bot 58 1722-1736... 

Department of Chemistry, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario P3E 2C6, Canada Fax 705-675-4844 e-mail KWESTAWA NICKELLAURENTIAN.CA and HJOLY NICKEL. LA URENTIAN. CA... 

Department of Chemistry, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario P3E 2C6, Canada... 

Testes Canada Sudbury, Ontario 1970 Soils distance from smelter 10 DW vs. 2 DW 114... 

More than 90% of the world s nickel is obtained from pentlandite ((FeNi)9S8), a nickel-sulfitic mineral, mined underground in Canada and the former Soviet Union (Sevin 1980 IARC 1976 WHO 1991). One of the largest sulfitic nickel deposits is in Sudbury, Ontario (USPHS 1993). Nickeliferous sulfide deposits are also found in Manitoba, South Africa, the former Soviet Union, Finland, western Australia, and Minnesota (Norseth and Piscator 1979 USPHS 1993). Most of the rest of the nickel obtained is from nickel minerals such as laterite, a nickel oxide ore mined by open pit techniques in Australia, Cuba, Indonesia, New Caledonia, and the former Soviet Union (Sevin 1980). Lateritic ores are less well defined than sulfitic ores, although the nickel content (1 to 3%) of both ores is similar (USPHS 1993). Important deposits of laterite are located in New Caledonia, Indonesia, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, the Philippines, Brazil, and especially Cuba, which holds 35% of the known reserves (USPHS 1993). Nickel-rich nodules are found on the ocean floor, and nickel is also present in fossil fuels (Sevin 1980). 

Sediment nickel concentrations are grossly elevated near the nickel-copper smelter at Sudbury, Ontario, and downstream from steel manufacturing plants. Sediments from nickel-contaminated sites have between 20 and 5000 mg Ni/kg DW these values are at least 100 times lower at comparable uncontaminated sites (Chau and Kulikovsky-Cordeiro 1995). A decrease in the pH of water caused by acid rain may release some of the nickel in sediments to the water column (NRCC 1981). Transfer of nickel from water column to sediments is greatest when sediment particle size is comparatively small and sediments contain high concentrations of clays or organics (Bubb and Lester 1996). 

Waterfowl feeding in areas subjected to extensive nickel pollution — such as smelters and nickel-cadmium battery plants — are at special risk because waterfowl food plants in those areas contain 500 to 690 mg Ni/kg DW (Eastin and O Shea 1981). Dietary items of the ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus) near Sudbury, Ontario, had 32 to 95 mg Ni/kg DW, whereas nickel concentrations in grouse body tissues usually contain less than 10% of the dietary level. Nickel concentrations in aspen (Populus tremula) from the crop of ruffed grouse near Sudbury ranged from 62 mg/kg DW in May to 136 mg/kg DW in September (Chau and Kulikovsky-Cordeiro 1995), which shows the role of season in dietary nickel composition. 

Beaver ponds downstream from an abandoned copper-nickel ore roast yard near Sudbury, Ontario, were devoid of fish and had reduced macroinvertebrate taxon richness and diversity when compared to upstream ponds. Nickel water concentrations, in pg Ni/L, were 57 in upstream ponds,... 

Gypsy moth, Porthetria dispar, near ore smelter at Sudbury, Ontario, Canada vs. reference site ... 

Rock bass, Ambloplites rupestris near smelter Sudbury, Ontario, Canada Gills Kidneys Livers Muscle... 

Bagatto, G. and J.D. Shorthouse. 1996. Accumulation of Cu and Ni in successive stages of Lymantria dispar L. (Lymantriidae, Lepidoptera) near ore smelters at Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. Environ. Pollut. 92 7-12. 

Glooschenko, V., W.F. Weller, P.G.R. Smith, R. Alvo, and J.H.G. Archbold. 1992. Amphibian distribution with respect to pond water chemistry near Sudbury, Ontario. Canad. Jour. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 49 (Suppl. 1) 114-121. 

Hillis, T.L. and G.H. Parker. 1993. Age and proximity to local ore-smelters as determinants of tissue metal levels in beaver (Castor canadensis) of the Sudbury (Ontario) area. Environ. Pollut. 80 67-72. 

Lepage, P. and G.H. Parker. 1988. Copper, nickel and iron levels in pelage of red squirrels living near the ore smelters at Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. Canad. Jour. Zool. 66 1631-1637. 

Acidic mine tailings wastes, Sudbury, Ontario 0.9 FW, Max. 3.3 FW 2... 

Bagatto, G. and M. Alikhan. 1987. Zinc, iron, manganese, and magnesium accumulated in crayfish populations near copper-nickel smelters at Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. Bull. Environ. Contam. Toxicology 38 1076-1081. 

Vicinity of nickel-copper smelter, Sudbury, Ontario ... 

Aerosol concentrations in excess of 4.0 jag Se/m3 are potentially harmful to human health (Harr 1978). Concentrations in excess of this value (6.0 pg Se/m3) were regularly encountered in the vicinity of the smeltery at Sudbury, Ontario, Canada (Nriagu and Wong 1983). It is not now known whether respiration rates of wildlife, particularly birds, are comparable to those of humans, whether selenium absorption energetics are similar, or whether wildlife species that frequent point sources of air contaminated by high selenium levels for protracted periods are at greater risk than humans. Until additional and more conclusive data become available, aerosol concentrations of less than 4.0 pg Se/m3 are recommended for the protection of sensitive wildlife species. 

Noda, K., S. Hirai, K. Sunayashiki, and H. Danbara. 1979. Neutron activation analyses of selenium and mercury in marine products from along the coast of Shikoku Island. Agric. Biol. Chem. 47 1381-1386. Nriagu, J.O. and H.K. Wong. 1983. Selenium pollution of lakes near the smelters at Sudbury, Ontario. Nature 301 55-57. 

McGregor, R.G., Blowes, D.W., Jambor J.L., Robertson W.D. 1998. Mobilization and attenuation of heavy metals within a nickel mine tailings impoundment near Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. Environmental Geology, 36, 305-319. 

Hunt, C. 2003. Metal concentrations and algal microfossil diversity in pre-industrial (pre-1880) sediment of lakes located on the Sudbury Igneous Complex in Sudbury, Ontario. Unpublished MSc. Thesis, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario. 

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