Assessment of Heavy Metal Concentration in Soil Around Owukpa Coal Mine Field, North Central Nigeria.

A M Magomya¹, Michael A. Abakpa^2*, G.G Yebpella³ and Japhet T.⁴
Page No.1-10

The evaluation of Heavy metals in the environment around Owukpa coal mine field, Ogbadibo Local Government Area, Benue State Nigeria was carried out to ascertain the degree of contamination resulting from mining activity in the area. The concentrations of selected heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Ni, Fe, Mn and Pb) in soils were investigated. Obtained results from the atomic absorption spectrophotometric (AAS) are as follows: Ni (4.16), Fe (102.91), Cd (1.36), Cr (2.31), Pb (7.15), and Mn (5.46). The result shows most samples had concentration slightly below the WHO standard except for Fe. However, the result obtained for Geoaccumulation index shows the study area fall within uncontaminated to moderately contaminated with PLI value > 1 except Cr (0.1570).
Keywords: Heavy metal, Health Risk, Pollution index, mining, Geo-accumulation.