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Tracing anthropogenic trace element contamination of natural and human systems in the South Pacific using honey bees as a key biomarker
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  • Mark Patrick Taylor,
  • Cynthia Isley,
  • Kara Fry,
  • Max M Gillings
Mark Patrick Taylor
Earth and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2019, Australia.

Corresponding Author:mark.taylor@mq.edu.au

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Cynthia Isley
Earth and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2019, Australia.
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Kara Fry
Earth and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2019, Australia.
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Max M Gillings
Earth and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2019, Australia.
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Abstract

New Caledonia’s Ni deposits account for ~ 8.2% of the world’s production of mined nickel, with a major smelting facility located in the country’s capital city of Nouméa (population 100,000). There are emerging concerns relating to contamination of human and natural ecosystems from dust and soil contamination from mineral processing emissions, which started the late 19th century. There is widespread reuse of Ni smelter slag in the city for multiple uses (e.g. building aggregate, erosion control, added to soil and surface as ‘gravel’) in the city, which contains up to 2% Cr. This study provides the first integrated environmental analysis of the impact of the smelter and associated anthropogenic trace element contamination of Noumea’s natural and human environments. To assess the impacts from smelting, hundreds of trace element data points were collected across Nouméa in a variety of matrices. These include natural rocks and deep soils, top soils, deposited dusts, residential garden soils, indoor vacuum dusts, honey bees and honey produced within the city’s urban environment. Rocks, soils and exterior and interior vacuum dusts were analysed for their trace element concentrations using X-ray fluorescence at < 100 locations within a 3 km radius of Nouméa’s Ni smelter. Samples of bees (live and dead), honey, soil and deposited dust were collected at 15 beehive locations across the Noumea area to ascertain if and what contaminants are being remobilized in dust, contaminating both food and ecological systems. Natural/background values were assessed using two bee hive locations, distant from the smelter, along with analysis of rocks and sub-surface soils from the main geological strata present in the city. Preliminary environmental data show that anthropogenic contaminants Cr, Ni, Pb and S exceed natural values by up to 8, 2.5, 10 and 15 times in different matrices. Analysis shows that CrVI is present in the slag and surface dusts (x̅ total Cr in deposited dust = 450 µg/m2) and that more than 60% of Ni dust loadings are > 1000 µg/m2 (x̅ Ni in dust = 2,400 µg/m2). The presentation will detail trace element concentrations in live and dead bees and corresponding honey samples and evaluate the data against corresponding levels measured in the adjoining environment to assess the remobilization and recycling of anthropogenic contaminants.