Magnetic-Radiometric Monitoring of Particulate Pollution from Kudremukh Iron Ore Mines, Karnataka

Kudremukh is the largest mechanised mining project in India. In spite of the steps being taken to arrest particulate pollution, it is feared that the pollution is significant. Using magnetic and radiometric properties of catchment soils, ores and tailings, the relative proportions of naturally weathered and man-made particles in the Bhadra river-bed sediments were estimated. Upstream of the mine and the tailings dam, the river bedload is composed principally of catchment soil materials (>97%). However, downstream of the mine segment the average mine waste component is about 47%. Magnetic methods are simple, rapid, inexpensive and non-destructive and can be employed on a routine basis in the environmental monitoring program at Kudremukh and other mines.