Risk assessment of potentially toxic elements in soil surrounding the Golesh ferronickel mine, Kosovo

Purpose. The objective of this study was to assess the risk of potentially toxic elements in soil samples surrounding ferro nickel mines in the Golesh massif, Republic of Kosovo.
Methods. In total, 14 potentially toxic elements (Al, As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Li, Mg, Mn, Ni, Pb, V and Zn) were investigated. Basic statistics, Pearson correlation, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), and Pollution indices (CF, PLI, Igeo, and EF) were used to explain better the data on metal concentrations in the soil samples.
Findings. Five groups of elements were identified by PCA, based on their geogenic or anthropogenic origin. The contamina
tion factor for nickel ranged from 6.9 to 166, with a mean value of 65.17. Cobalt and magnesium also had high mean values of
contamination factor: 10.38 and 9.76, respectively. The PLIsite for 14 locations were highly polluted with metals (PLI > 4), and the
PLIzone of the whole territory investigated was 3.5. The mean value of Igeo for nickel was 5.44, for cobalt (2.79) and for magnesium (2.7). The mean value of enrichment factor (EF) for nickel, cobalt and magnesium was 233.7, 35.26 and 19.16, respectively.
Originality. Soil samples were collected from 30 different locations in accordance with the soil sampling protocol. The samples were sent for further analysis at the ACME, Ltd. laboratory in Vancouver, Canada. The soil samples were digested with aqua regia, and the content of 14 chemical elements was determined using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS).
Practical implications. Based on statistical analysis and pollution indices, we concluded that most soil samples were highly polluted with Ni, Co, and Mg, resulting from the ferronickel and magnesite mines located in the region under investigation.