ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Phys.
Sec. Radiation Detectors and Imaging
The study of radiation contamination in Roodepoort gold mine tailings using HGPe gamma spectroscopy
Provisionally accepted
Mashinga J. Mvelase1,2*
Sifiso S. Ntshangase2Siyabonga N.T. Majola1Bonginkosi V. Kheswa1Paulus L. Masiteng1Peane P. Maleka3,4- 1University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa
- 2University of Zululand, KwaDlangezwa, South Africa
- 3iThemba Laboratory for Accelerator Based Sciences, Somerset West, South Africa
- 4University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
In this study, a coaxial HPGe high-resolution γ-detector was used to measure the γ-signals in soil samples collected from the Roodepoort Gold Tailings. There have been complaints about dust from the gold tailings, and the study aims to determine the level of contamination. The activity concentration of 238U ranged from 132.88±4.68 to 1421.46±13.38, with a mean of 464.96±2.08 Bq/kg. The activity concentration of 226Ra ranged from 130.19±4.48 to 1359.27±13.83, with a mean of 425.28±8.02 Bq/kg. The range of 232Th was from 5.27±0.67 to 19.37±1.98, with a mean of 11.20±1.03 Bq/kg, and 40K activity ranged from 65.23±15.29 to 264.11±25.66, with a mean of 127.50±21.85 Bq/kg. The findings showed that 238U and 226Ra activities exceeded the global average of 35 Bq/kg, while 232Th and 40K were below their respective limits. The radiological hazard indices exceeded recommended limits, making the tailings soil completely unsuitable for use as building materials, as this may have deleterious health effects on residents in the future.
Keywords: AEDE, ELCR, HPGe γ - spectroscopy, radioactivity, Radiological health hazards
Received: 05 Nov 2025; Accepted: 18 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Mvelase, Ntshangase, Majola, Kheswa, Masiteng and Maleka. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Mashinga J. Mvelase
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.