Asbestos in Argentina: Mineralogical and Morphological Characterization. Environmental Impact

SFRAGULLA, J.; MAIZA, P.; LESCANO, L.; MARFIL, S.; BONALUMI, A.; LOCATI, F.

Asbestos: Risk Assessment, Health Implications and Impacts on the Environment

Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Lugar: Hauppauge; Año: 2016; p. 145 - 190

In Argentina, asbestos started to be mined in 1920, and in the 1960s there were five mining zones in the provinces of Mendoza, Córdoba and La Rioja. The deposits are associated with mafic and ultramafic rocks, mainly serpentinites and amphibolic rocks, as well as with talc, carbonate and chromite deposits. Most of these mines are currently closed, but hundreds of tons of these materials were commercialized, and even greater quantities are in waste piles, creating a major environmental liability and disrupting the landscape. The degradation of these minerals exposed to an exogenous environment is one of the factors why fibers are released into the air, become smaller, are volatilized and may reach sizes that are considered harmful to human health.Even though in Argentina the use of asbestos has been banned by the Ministry of National Health since 2000, these minerals have been used in a wide range of industries such as car, nautical, aeronautical, railroad, asbestos cement (sheets, tiles, pipes, and water tanks), oil and petrochemical, electric power and electrical appliances, rubber, steel, paper, plastic, textile, pharmaceutical, tobacco, and food industries.This chapter includes the conclusions from studies on asbestiform mineral deposits in Argentina, especially in the provinces of Córdoba and Mendoza, and on their presence as impurities in ores such as talc and vermiculite, focusing on the optical, textural, morphological properties and chemical analyses of asbestiform minerals. Their composition and genetic relationship with other asbestos species are also included. The results from the analysis of currently exploited vermiculites containing asbestiform amphiboles are also reported. In the province of Mendoza, amphiboles occur mainly in the host rock, although they also form networks of veins and masses associated with talc ores. These materials are transported to treatment plants to be prepared for their commercialization. They are dry milled, generating large volumes of dust difficult to contain. The dust is composed of amphiboles and other minerals that may be inhaled by the operators or people living near the plants. Furthermore, the conclusions on the morphological changes caused by the application of specific laboratory techniques are informed. These techniques were aimed at decreasing particle size, degradation and potential mobility through the change of physicochemical conditions in laboratory tests by simulating exogenous conditions.