On Thursday June 13, 2024, Petra Stubbe successfully defended her PhD thesis entitled “Effects of phosphate on the mobility of arsenic in contaminated areas”. Congratulations, Petra!

Petra with reviewers of the doctoral thesis, prof. Alexandra Courtin-Nomade (Université Paris-Saclay), prof. Edgar Hiller (Univerzita komenského v Bratislave), and her supervisor, Petr Drahota.

EGG is actively involved in the objective of the OP JAK project (Natural and anthropogenic georisks; project number: CZ.02.01.01/00/22_008/0004605). Within Work Package 5 (Geochemical risks and contaminations), our researchers will delve into following areas:

• Examination of pollutant behavior in soils;
• Analysis of mining and metallurgical wastes, particularly concerning their toxic properties and potentially significant economic elements;
• Study of substance behaviors during natural fires.

The researchers contributing to this project include: Martin Mihaljevič, Vojtěch Ettler, Petr Drahota, Maria Vaňková, Filip Košek, Adam Culka, Marek Tuhý, Petr Fleissig, and Martin Lichovník. EGG is set to collaborate closely with the Czech University of Life Sciences (Department of Pedology and Soil Protection) and Masaryk University (Recetox). As part of our initiative, the project aims to enhance the infrastructure and laboratories, particularly focusing on ICP MS, XRD, and Raman spectrometry.

On December 14, 2022, Rafael Baieta successfully defended his PhD thesis entitled “A study of the behavior of selected metals in affected environments using isotopic approach” completed under supervision of prof. Martin Mihaljevič. On the photo you find Rafael with the external reviewers Dr. Tomáš Navrátil (left) and Dr. Václav Tejnecký (right). Congratulations, Rafael!

On Thursday 22^nd September 2022, Helena Jelenová (née Kindlová) and Magdaléna Peřestá (née Knappová) successfully defended their PhD theses entitled “Arsenic speciation in mining wastes – case studies in systems dominated by ferric sulfo-arsenates” and “Speciation of arsenic under reducing conditions of organic-rich soil”, respectively. Both theses were supervised by Dr. Petr Drahota. On the photos you will see both ladies with their supervisor and reviewers Dr. Michal Filippi (Geological Institute of the CAS), Dr. Ľubomír Jurkovič (Comenius University, Bratislava), Prof. Edgar Hiller (Comenius University, Bratislava) and Dr. Barbora Doušová (University of Chemistry and Technology Prague). It was a successful ARSENIC DAY. Congratulations!

On Thursday 30th September 2021, Marek Tuhý successfully defended his PhD thesis entitled “Wildfires in polluted areas: mineralogical transformations and remobilization of metal(loid)s“. The thesis was supervised by prof. Vojtěch Ettler and reviewed by Dr. Isabel Campos (University of Aveiro, Portugal) and Dr. Tomáš Navrátil (Institute of Geology, CAS). Congratulations!

A new book entitled Metallurgical Slags: Environmental Geochemistry and Resource Potential edited by Nadine M. Piatak (USGS) and Vojtěch Ettler has been published by the prestigious publishing house, the Royal Society of Chemistry (link). Vojtech Ettler (co-) authored four of nine chapters in the book: Introduction: Metallurgical Slags – Environmental Liability or Valuable Resource? (DOI), Geochemistry and Mineralogy of Slags (DOI), Slag Leaching Properties and Release of Contaminants (DOI), and Environmental Impact of Slag Particulates (DOI).

Vojtěch Ettler will give a plenary lecture entitled “The leaching behavior of smelting slags: from contaminants to critical metals” on the 7^th International Slag Valorization Symposium (SVS7). The conference, originally planned to take place in Leuven, Belgium, will finally run in a virtual mode. SVS7 is a major event on characterization and applications of metallurgical slags and will bring together people from R&D sector and industry.