• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.11 no.3
• /
• pp.1-11
• /
• 2006

Attempts were made to analyze the national policy of soil contamination prevention and management of inactive or abandoned metal (IAM) mines in Korea. This approach focused on legal systems and legislation, remediation technology development, and the arrangement or distribution of budgets pertaining to national policy since the mid 1990's. Prevention of Mining Damage and Recovery Act enacted. Defines the roles, responsibility and budget of the government when recovering mine damages. However, in 2005 there still remains to improve the national policy of soil contamination prevention and management of IAM mines. Analysis of national and industrialized foreign countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands suggest the following improvements: i) arranging distinct regulations between strict and non-strict liability criteria for potentially responsible parties; limiting innocent and non-strict liability depending on the period of incurred mining activity, ii) enhancing participation of local communities by enforcing law and legislation, iii) establishing a national database system of (potentially) IAM contaminated sites based on the Website-Geographic Information System, iv) carrying out site-specific risk assessments and remediation of IAM contaminated sites, v) preparation and distribution of clean-up fund at mine sites adequately, and vi) technology development for the cleaning of IAM contaminated sites; awarding positive incentives of a legal nature for participants applying newly developed technology in IAM mines.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
• /
• v.30 no.1
• /
• pp.1-9
• /
• 2017

This study investigated the effectiveness of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and 3D modeling on mine reclamation monitoring. The high spatial resolution of 3.8 cm ortho-mosaic image and Digital Elevation Model (DEM) are constructed based on UAV air survey. The ortho-mosaic image effectively shows mine reclamation activities and recognize objects and topological changes in the image. The comparative analysis of 3D models between UAV based DEM and report based DEM reveals that total amount of $268,672m^3$ additional dumping of contaminated soil is equivalent to 710,000 ton. It concludes that a UAV based survey enables high accuracy spatial information extraction for mine reclamation activities with high efficiency. It is expected that UAV survey will be very effectively used for preliminary data acquisition and project monitoring for mine reclamation activities.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.29 no.1
• /
• pp.10-17
• /
• 2024

In Korea, the common remedial process for reclamation of agricultural soils nearby abandoned mines involves chemical soil stabilization followed by covering with clean soil. This study investigated the chemical properties of cover soils and the validity of HCl extraction method in assessing the degree of As and heavy metal stabilization in stabilized soils collected from 14 plots where mine reclamation had been completed. The results revealed there were no major differences in contaminants extraction rate between the stabilized soils and contaminated soils, suggesting HCl extraction procedure is a less feasible method to determine the efficiency of the stabilization. Soil quality indicators including OM, SiO₂, P₂O₅, etc. of the land-covering soils were generally lower than those of stabilized soils that used to be the cultivation layer before the stabilization. Nonetheless, the value of those indicators didn't meet the regulatry limits of agricultural soil. Therefore, future strategy for mine reclamation should concentrate not only on contaminant concentration but also on soil quality parameters for agricultural use of the reclaimed soil.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
• /
• 2002.11a
• /
• pp.3-21
• /
• 2002

국내의 휴ㆍ폐탄광 수는 2002년 현재 230여 개에 이르고 있다. 이에 따라 갱도, 폐석적치장 및 광산 시설물들은 방치상태로 남게 되며 광해의 주요인자가 되고 있다. 광해현상은 이들로부터 유출되는 산성광산배수(Acid Mine Drainage : AMD), 폐석 및 오염토양의 유실 및 하류부 퇴적, 채굴적 상부 및 인접지역의 지반침하 등이다. AMD는 pH가 6.0 미만이고 총산도(total acidity)가 총알카리도(total alkalinity)를 초과하는 물로서 노천광이 가행되었던 지역, 가행중이거나 휴광 또는 폐광된 광산에서 유출된다. 또한 도로사면 절개부나 지하철 터널에서도 황철석(pyrite)이나 백철석(marcasite)등을 함유하는 층이 공기 중에 노출되면 산성수가 침출되어 나오기도 한다. AMD에 의한 하천수의 오염이 매우 극심하여 때로는 미생물마저도 그 속에 살 수 없게 된다. AMD에 의해 오염된 하천수의 오염범위는 산성수의 양, 농도, 하천에 유입되는 산성수의 분포, 상류에서 흘러드는 오염되지 않은 물의 양, 지류에서 유입되는 물의 양에 따라 좌우된다. AMD 오염이 문제시되고 있는 나라는 미국을 포함하여 호주, 일본, 한국, 러시아, 남아연방 등이다. AMD를 처리하기 위해 여러 기술이 도입 적용되었으며 일부 기술들은 현재도 사용되고 있다. 각 기술마다 일장일단이 있으므로 경비의 과다, 유지 및 관리에 대한 지속성 여부, 공간의 확보 여부, 지역적 특수성에 맞춰 가장 적합한 방법을 채택하여야 하며 꾸준히 채택한 기술의 개량 및 새로운 기술의 첨가가 요구되고 있다. 따라서, AMD 오염지대에 대해 획일적으로 같은 처리방법을 채택하여 사용하는 것보다 각 지역 또는 AMD가 유출되어 나오는 광산폐기물의 특성 등을 고려하여 거기에 맞는 기술들을 복합적으로 또는 단독으로 사용하되 처리방법 채택 시 신중을 기할 것이 요망된다. 우리나라에서도 폐탄광을 복원하기 위하여 여러 시도가 있었으나 시간적, 경제적으로 충분히 고려하지 않아 시행착오을 범하고 있다. 따라서, 복원 대상광산에 대한 실제적인 조사, 평가 및 복구설계의 과정을 예로 들어 적절한 처리과정을 토의하고자 한다.

• Resources Recycling
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.80-88
• /
• 2017

Globally, there has been a lot of research related to recycling coal ash from power plant stations. This research is happening because there is a considerable shortage of sites for reclamation of increased coal ash every year. In addition, a variety of environmental pollutants have appeared because of mining activity. Abandoned coal mine, pits, and mine tailing piles caused pollutants to come to the surface resulting in serious damage for humans and the environment. Therefore in this study, we investigated whether or not coal ashes have the ability to prevent several environmental problems by mining in Korea and a manageable form recycling coal ashes. In overseas countries, there is a sufficient field of applicable cases where coal ash is used for neutralizing AMD (Acid Mine Drainage), covering of the waste materials, grouting, and soil amendments. However in Korea, since the coal ash is classified as a 'waste', there is an insufficient field applicable cases so far. Therefore it is necessary to establish a specific standard and management system for the utilization of coal ash based on the relevant precedent cases applied abroad in order to prevent environmental pollution caused by mining activity in Korea.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.26 no.7
• /
• pp.59-70
• /
• 2010

A long-term field demonstration experiment on selected stabilization methods to reduce the heavy metal mobility in farmland soil contaminated by heavy metals was conducted. The field demonstration experiment was established on the contaminated farmland with wooden plates (thickness = 1 cm), of which the dimension were width = 200 cm, Length = 200 cm, height = 80 cm, filled with treated soil, which was mixed with lime stone and steel refining slag except on control plot. Soil samples in the plots were collected and analyzed during the experiment period (6 months) after the installation of the plots. The field demonstration experiment results showed that the application lime stone at the ratio of 5% was effective for immobilizing heavy metal components in contaminated farmland soil.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.54 no.4
• /
• pp.483-494
• /
• 2021

This study was carried out to investigate the feasibility of reducing clean cover soil using a flooded column test in arsenic-contaminated farmland reclamation of abandoned coal mine area that shows generally low or about worrisome level (25 mg/kg) of Korea soil environment conservation act unlike abandoned metal mine. During the monitoring period of soil solution for 4 months, chemical properties (pH, EC, ORP, Fe, Mn, Ca, and As) in each layer (clean soil cover and contaminated/stabilized soil) showed different variation. This result revealed that soil solution in stabilized or contaminated soil rarely affected that in cover soil. Whether stabilized or not, arsenic concentrations in the rice roots grown in the soil covers with the thickness of 40 cm decreased by 98% in compared with the that grown in the control soil. In case of the soil covers with 20 cm thickness on stabilized soil, it decreased by 80% and this was 22 percentage point higher than when the soil of lower layer was not stabilized. Thus, reducing clean cover soil could be possible in contaminated farmland soil reclamation if appropriate stabilization of contaminated soil is carried.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
• /
• v.4 no.3
• /
• pp.180-185
• /
• 2017

Restoration of min-impacted arable land is often performed through stabilization of trace elements by amendment treatment combined with (clean) soil covering on the surface. Recently, soil loss problem from sloping remediated agricultural lands has risen as an emerging concern. In this study, efficacy of aggregation formation was assessed by single and binary treatments of four potential amendments (bentonite, lime, organic matter, and steel slag) applied on three cover soils having different clay contents (9.4, 14.7, and 21.2% for A, B, and C soils respectively). In results of single treatments, 5% organic matter for A soil and 5% lime for B and C soils were found most effective for the aggregation formation compared to the respective controls (without amendments). Among nine binary treatments, 3% organic matter + 1% lime for A soil and 1% organic matter + 3% lime for both B and C soils led to the highest formation of aggregation (30.4, 25.0, and 36.5% for A, B, and C soils). For a site-application, the soil erodibility difference between the cover soils (0.045, 0.051, and 0.054 for A, B, and C soils, respectively) and the national average of arable land (0.032) was assumed to be compensated by amendment addition, which is equivalent to 29.1% aggregation formation. To achieve the aggregation goal, 5% lime for A and B soils and 3% lime for C soil were best in the consideration of benefit/cost, thereby effectively and economically reducing soil loss from sloping remediation site. Soil alkalinity induced by lime treatment was not considered in this work.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
• /
• v.32 no.3
• /
• pp.157-165
• /
• 2023

In Korea, a major contaminant of farmland soils in the vicinity of abandoned mines is arsenic, for which the general soil reclamation method is contaminated soil stabilization and cover the stabilized soil with clean soil at a thickness of 40 cm. In a previous pot experiment study we confirmed the feasibility of a lower thickness (20 cm) of covering soil for such reclamation in abandoned coal mines, where arsenic contamination levels are generally lower than in metal mines. In this subsequent study a field experiment including rice plant cultivation in field test plots was conducted. For over 4 months, the transfer of arsenic from the contaminated soil to the unpolished rice grains was reduced by 44% when a clean soil covering with a thickness of 20 cm was applied. The maximum decrease (56%) was shown when the stabilization process was performed before the covering. These results reveal a lower thickness of clean soil covering has a high feasibility and it can increase cost-efficiency in the reclamation of an abandoned coal mine.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
• /
• v.64 no.2
• /
• pp.37-45
• /
• 2022

In-situ pilot experiment was carried out to establish a countermeasure on the soil loss from the hill side uplands that was rehabilitated by soil remediation method nearby abandoned mine sites for 2 years. It was considered that the affect of an inclination of cover surface, a stabilization treatment of cover layer by lime and steel refining slag (SRS) and a vegetation of soil surface as an effect factors in the experiment. It was constructed 4 lysimeters (plots, 22 m long, 4 m width) on the hilly side (37% inclination). One plot was control and two plots was treated by 1% lime and SRS. A remind one plot was modified a inclination to 27% to compare the affect of inclination on the amount of cover soil loss. It was attached a reservior tank and water level gauge in the end of lysimeters to measure the amount of the surface water flow and soil loss. It was also installed the automated sensors that could be collect the precipitation, soil moisture content, tension of cover layer in each plots. It was observed that the event of precipitation were caused the soil loss and it were related the physical and chemical properties of cover soil and inclination of surface layer of plots. During the experiment, it was exceeded the national regulation (50 t/ha/yr) in 37% inclination plots even though it was vegetated on the cover soil surface. However, in 27% inclination plot, it was shown that the amount of soil loss was maintained below the national regulation and, more ever, vegetation could reduce the the amount of soil loss. Therefore it was expected that such results could be applied to the future design of rehabilitation projects on the polluted farmland nearby abandoned mine sites.