It is a Zn-Cu deposit developed in the 1940s and still in production. This thesis consists of three papers outlining the geochemical conditions prevailing in tailings Impoundment 1 at the Kristineberg mine, after remediation by applying till cover. The impoundment investigated was in use until the early 1950s and it was remediated in 1996. In other areas, with a deeper groundwater table, a sealing layer consisting of a 0.3 m thick layer of a compacted clayey till underlying a 1.5 m thick protective cover of unspecified till was used. Field studies include sampling of solid tailings, saturated tailings pore water as well as pore water from the vadose zone.
Laboratory investigations consist of a five-step sequential extraction on solid tailings samples.
Pre-remediation oxidation has resulted in a zonation of the tailings with an upper oxidised zone above unoxidised tailings. Just below the oxidation front, there is a secondary enrichment of especially Cu but also of other elements. Metals released by sulphide oxidation were thus secondarily enriched. Tailings remediated by the combination of a till cover and a raised groundwater table, resulted in a remobilisation of metals around and a few metres below the former oxidation front. Although the concentrations of several elements still are high in the pore water, they are lower than before the remediation.