Italy, Cave del Predil (Tarvisio, Udine), Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy
Raibl mine, Cave del Predil
Raibl
The Raibl mine in the Julian Alps was Italy's most productive lead and zinc mine until it closed in 1991. Its flotation tailings, rich in zinc, lead and thallium, are home to a population of Biscutella laevigata that hyperaccumulates thallium.
At a glance
- Status
- Under assessment
- Activity
- until 1991
- Media
- soil, sediment, surface water
- Kind of site
- mining
Contaminants
Status
Under assessment
The mine has been closed since 1991. The latest studies (2021–2025) characterise the tailings impoundments and the spread of metals along the Rio del Lago and Slizza streams; the sources consulted describe no official remediation works.
Story
The Raibl mine, on the Italian side of the Julian Alps, extracted lead and zinc ores and closed in 1991. It left large volumes of waste: flotation tailings and waste rock scattered around the mining village and stored in tailings impoundments.
Near the heaps there is more than 10% zinc and iron, more than 1% lead, over 1,000 mg/kg of arsenic, and thallium, antimony, cadmium and germanium below 100 mg/kg; in the tailings thallium ranges from 65 to 754 mg/kg and much of it is leachable. Upstream of the mine the environment is largely uncontaminated. The elements have migrated along the Rio del Lago and Slizza streams, contaminating their banks and sediments.
The University of Udine group has for years studied the plants that grow spontaneously on the tailings and the amendments that could help a plant cover establish. The geochemical studies also point to reprocessing the tailings, to recover useful elements, as a possible way of managing them.
Timeline
- 1991The Raibl mine closes.
- 2011Laboratory tests with biochar on the Cave del Predil tailings.
- 2015Thallium hyperaccumulation is confirmed in the local population of Biscutella laevigata.
- 2021Geophysical and geochemical characterisation of the tailings impoundment.
- 2025Studies on thallium mobility and on metallophytes along the Rio del Lago and Slizza.
Plants and fungi at this site
PhytoremediationField scale
Biscutella laevigata, Silene vulgaris
Not a clean-up trial but a survey of spontaneous metallophytes: plants collected on the tailings and along the banks of the Rio del Lago and Slizza, with bioconcentration and translocation factors calculated. A comparison of populations across north-eastern Italy showed that only the Cave del Predil one hyperaccumulates thallium, and that it is genetically distinct from the others.
Outcome In the shoots of B. laevigata: 0.49–1,587 mg/kg thallium, 20.6–3,391 zinc, 0.21–234 lead; in S. vulgaris: 0.01–578 thallium, 14.9–1,590 zinc. The authors prefer S. vulgaris for phytostabilising substrates low in thallium.
- Fellet G. et al. Potentially toxic elements in facultative metallophytes Biscutella laevigata and Silene vulgaris along the stream descending from the abandoned Raibl mine (Italy). International Journal of Phytoremediation 27, 2025
- Pošćić F. et al. Variation in heavy metal accumulation and genetic diversity at a regional scale among metallicolous and non-metallicolous populations of the facultative metallophyte Biscutella laevigata subsp. laevigata. International Journal of Phytoremediation 17, 2015
PhytoremediationLaboratory, with soil from the site
A laboratory test in preparation for phytostabilisation, without plants: tailings from a mine dump at Cave del Predil mixed with biochar from orchard prunings at 0, 1, 5 and 10%, measuring physical and chemical properties and the bioavailability and leachability of the metals.
Outcome With more biochar, pH, cation exchange capacity and water-holding capacity rose and the bioavailability of Cd, Pb, Tl and Zn fell.
From the literature
Species that acted on one of this site's contaminants in at least one study. The list is automatic and takes no account of this site's soil, concentrations or climate.
Plants
- Agrostis capillarisCommon bentEvidence: field
- Arabidopsis halleriHaller's rockcressEvidence: field
- Cannabis sativaIndustrial hempEvidence: field
- Festuca rubraRed fescueEvidence: field
- Noccaea caerulescensAlpine pennycressEvidence: field
- Pteris vittataChinese brake fernEvidence: field
Fungi
- Funneliformis mosseaeEvidence: greenhouse
- Paxillus involutusBrown roll-rimEvidence: greenhouse
- Rhizophagus irregularisEvidence: greenhouse
- Aspergillus nigerBlack mouldEvidence: laboratory
- Mucor circinelloidesEvidence: laboratory
- Agaricus bisporusButton mushroomEvidence: laboratory
The rest are on the contaminant pages.
Nearby
SIN, Torviscosa (Udine), Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Caffaro di Torviscosa (formerly Grado and Marano Lagoon)
73 km
Phytoremediation
SIN, Trieste, Muggia, Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Trieste
93 km
- Petroleum hydrocarbons
- Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
SIN, Venezia, Veneto
Porto Marghera (Venice)
151 km
PhytoremediationMicrobial bioremediation
Former SIN, Provincia autonoma di Bolzano
Bolzano (industrial zone)
172 km
- Fluoride
Sources
- Barago N. et al. Environmental impact and mobility of thallium and other metal(oid)s in soils and tailings near a decommissioned Zn-Pb mine (Raibl, NE Italian Alps). Environmental Geochemistry and Health 47, Springer, 2025
- Barago N. et al. Prediction of trace metal distribution in a tailings impoundment using an integrated geophysical and geochemical approach (Raibl mine, Pb-Zn Alpine district, northern Italy). International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18, MDPI, 2021
- Fellet G. et al. Potentially toxic elements in facultative metallophytes Biscutella laevigata and Silene vulgaris along the stream descending from the abandoned Raibl mine (Italy). International Journal of Phytoremediation 27, Taylor & Francis, 2025
Draft compiled from public sources, not yet reviewed.