• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2005.04a
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• pp.24-27
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• 2005

This study has focused on investigation on As and heavy metal contamination derived from metalliferous mining activities in the Choongbuk Province in Korea. Soil, mine effluent, surface water and ground water samples were taken in and around 27 abandoned metal mines, and analyzed for As, Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn using AAS and anions in water samples using IC. In general, the heavy metal concentrations in soils decreased with Increasing distance from the each mine audit. Tailings and mine waste soils from several mines contained over the guideline of Soil Conservation Act in Korea. Soil samples from the Seobo, Honga, Daehwa, Jeungjadong, Youngbo and Munbaek mines contained over the action levels of the metals due to intensive mining activities. Therefore, a proper remediation work needs to control the metal dispersion around the mines.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.21-33
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• 2004

The objective of this study is to review of environmental assessment of heavy metals derived from various metalliferous mines in Korea. As a results of national wide research for heavy metal contaminations in the vicinity of metalleferous mines, the main contaminants are mine waste materials including tailings. From the materials, toxic elements including As, Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn can be dispersed into downstream through wind and water. Thus, soils around the mines contain elevated levels of those elements, which are over the guide values for environmental regulation of soils in Korea. Arsenic is one of the most important elements contaminated by mining activities, to a less extent, Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn. In spite of remediation works for some metal mines by the government, there are still lots of abandoned mines which are necessary for reclamation of mining sites. This study also includes that metal concentrations in soils and tailings can be varied upon various decomposition methods including 0.1N HC1 and aqua regia and sequential extraction scheme, with differences in each element, too. This may be due to geochemical characteristics of the elements, such as solubility, mobility and chemical forms in the geochemical environment. Finally, it is suggested that a certain organization should be runned by Korean government for management of abandoned mines.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.252-258
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• 2004

This study was performed to evaluate characteristic of acid mine drainages (AMD) from abandoned mines in Kangwon-Do. Youngdong abandoned mine, and Soo and Hambaek abandoned mines in Hamtae were selected for this study. Average pHs of the mine drainages were 3-6.5, and those of Youngdong and Hambaek drainages were very acidic as 3-4. $SO_4^{-2}$ of Youngdong and Hambaek drainages were over 1,600 mg/L, which higher than average value (845 mg/L) of acid mine drainages in nationwide. Cu, Mn, and As concentrations of the drainages were lower than ‘Pollutant Discharge Permission'. Fe concentrations of Youngdong and Hambaek drainages were approximately 96 mg/L, which were two times higher than average value in nationwide. From correlation analysis using SPSS, significant correlation was not discovered between 'contaminants' analyzed in three acid mine drainages.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.256-264
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• 2004

Vegetation structure was investigated to provide basic information on revegetation of abandoned coal mine lands in Borim, Sungwon, Hyeopjeong, Daedong and at a control site in Taebaek. The upper layer of the control site consists of 7 species and the Importance Value was highest for Pinus densijlora, but there were no species in the four abandoned coal mines. The number of dominant species in the middle layer of each coal mine site was 2 for Borim, 2 for Sungwon, 3 for Hyeopjeong and 2 for Daedong. In the case of the lower layer in Borim, Sungwon, Hyeopjeong and Daedong, there were 12, 14, 9 and 8 species, respectively. The lower level importance values were highest for Pinus densiflora in Borim, for Amorpha fruticosa in Sungwon and for Rubus crataegifolius in the Hyeopjeong and Daedong coal mines. Weigela subsessilis, R. crataegifolius, P. densiflora, Betula platyphylla var. japonica, Stephanandra incisa, Lespedeza crytobotrya and A. fruticosa appeared in the lower layers of abandoned coal mines. Species diversity of the lower and the herbaceous layers ranged from 0.800 to 0.952 and 0.699 to 0.907 in abandoned coal mines. Evenness and dominance in all abandoned coal mines ranged from 0.840 to 0.949 and 0.051 to 0.160.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• v.2
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• pp.721-724
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• 2006

Among many sources of soil and water pollution, former mining regions also play an important role in distribution and scope of pollution. In response, KMRC has made an investigation into the status mine hazard at the abandoned metalliferous mine area in Korea. In this study, we analyzed distribution of mine hazards at abandoned metalliferous mines using GIS. We considered the distribution of mine hazards and its magnitude for each abandoned mine and displayed the mine hazard index (MHI) using GIS. We divided the MHI value for each mine into 5 classes, and displayed the first class as smallest point symbol and the last class as biggest point symbol. The biggest symbol shows the most serious status of mine hazards. This GIS function was included in the AMGIS system KMRS are running, and it would be helpful to make decision of reclamation priority at abandoned metalliferous mine area.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.143-156
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• 2007

This study has researched the management status and the pollution level of water, soil, stream sediments of 11 abandoned coal mines out of a total of 12 within Obong-Dam area except Bukyung mine, which was submerged when constructing Obong-Dam, and selected areas which are in needs to have pollution control facilities in the first place. From the results of examination on the runoff at the waste rock pile and mineheads, the runoff from Sueun mine (pH, Fe, Al), Samwon mine (pH, Al), Wangdo mine (pH, Al), Mose mine (pH, Fe, Al) and Daeryeong mine (pH) exceeded the permissible discharge standards of the water quality, but the water at merging point with Obong-Dam after joined with Doma branch satisfied both Water Quality Standards and Drinking Water Quality Standards. In regard to groundwater contamination, it is found that areas where exceeded the Drinking Water Quality Standards are Wangdo mine (pH), Jangjae mine (pH, Zn), Daeryeong mine (pH) whereas all areas satisfied Soil Contamination Warning Standards of Soil Environmental Conservation Law. When comparing a research result on underwater sediments of branches of abandoned mines to the EPA Guidelines for classification of great lakes harbor sediments, Dongguk Gaerim (Fe), Jungwon mine (Fe), Daebo mine (Mn), Samwon mine (Mn) and Daeryeong mine (Mn) showed mid-level of contamination, whereas Sueun (Fe, Mn), Daebo mine (Fe), Woosung mine (Fe, Mn), Wangdo mine (Fe, Mn), Mose mine (Fe) and Daeryeong mine (Fe) showed high-level of contamination. In addition, contamination levels of underwater sediments in Wangsan and Doma branch where abandoned mine's branches merge together, Wangsan branch showed no contamination at all whereas Doma branch shows mid-level of contamination which reflect the Doma branch is affected by waste rock pile and minehead runoff of the abandoned mines in the Doma branch area. It is concluded that Mose mine and Sueun mine required treatment of acid mine drainage. and Wangdo, Jungwon, and Samwon mines were in need of mine tailing and erosion control work. The Samwon mine additionally required a control system for closed minehead runoff. Although the Samwon mine reached a high concentration of Al, Mn $Ca^{2+}$, $SO{_4}^{2-}$ in the runoff, the levels decreased after it was combined with a tributary. It has been concluded that after further monitoring of the cause of pollution, a preventive measure system may be needed to be built.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.257-262
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• 2008

In the study it was investigated the diffusion characteristics of heavy metal pollutions such as Cu, Pb, Hg and As which was the main pollution sources of soils from abandoned mines. The pollution of Cu and Pb was caused by Mine A, that of Hg was caused by Mine 3, that of Pb was caused by Mine C and that of Cu, Pb, As was caused by Mine D. Though the high concentration was detected within 100m from abandoned mines, the low concentration was detected over than 100m from abandoned mines in all heavy metals investigated except As. It means that it was very difficult to estimate the pollution level of As caused abandoned mines. The results were discussed in the concentrations of Cu, Pb and distances showed a good relationship with 0.71 and 0.68 as the coefficient of correlation, respectively. In particular the relativity of Cu to Pb as very strong with 0.84 as the coefficient of correlation. It was consistent with the chemical behavior in soils in the case of Cu and Pb. Therefore it will be a promising approach to remove Cu and Pb with estimated values in the study.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.81-86
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• 2016

Heavy metal pollution in agricultural fields at the abandoned metal mines has been serious problems in Korea. In order to manage heavy metal pollution in surface water and soil, numerous remediation strategies have been established. Therefore, main purpose of this research was to examine feasibility of ecological toxicity assessment for establishing management strategy in heavy metal polluted agricultural fields. Heavy metal concentration in surface water and soil was monitored along with ecotoxicity experiment with Daphnia magna and Eisenia fetida. Result showed that high toxicity was observed in heavily polluted agricultural field with heavy metals. In case of mortality of Daphnia magna (85%) and Eisenia fetida (6.7%), the highest ratio was observed when heavy metal concentration in surface and soil was high. Calculated ecotoxicity index (EI) ranged 0.06-0.30 and the highest EI was observed in heavily polluted sites among 5 abandoned metal mines. Overall, ecological toxicity assessment is necessary to evaluate heavy metal pollution in agricultural fields near at the abandoned metal mines along with chemical concentration analysis.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.812-821
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• 2007

The ecosystems of certain abandoned mines contain arsenic-resistant bacteria capable of performing detoxification when an ars gene is present in the bacterial genome. The ars gene has already been isolated from Pseudomonas putida and identified as a member of the membrane transport regulatory deoxyribonucleic acid family. The arsenite-oxidizing bacterial strains isolated in the present study were found to grow in the presence of 66.7 mM sodium arsenate($V;\;Na_2HAsO_4{\cdot}7H_2O$), yet experienced inhibited growth when the sodium arsenite($III;\;NaAsO_2$) concentration was higher than 26 mM. Batch experiment results showed that Pseudomonas putida strain OS-5 completely oxidized 1 mM of As(III) to As(V) within 35 h. An arsB gene encoding a membrane transport regulatory protein was observed in arsenite-oxidizing Pseudomonas putida strain OS-5, whereas arsB, arsH, and arrA were detected in strain OS-19, arsD and arsB were isolated from strain RW-18, and arsR, arsD, and arsB were found in E. coli strain OS-80. The leader gene of arsR, -arsD, was observed in a weak acid position. Thus, for bacteria exposed to weak acidity, the ars system may cause changes to the ecosystems of As-contaminated mines. Accordingly, the present results suggest that arsR, arsD, arsAB, arsA, arsB, arsC, arsH, arrA, arrB, aoxA, aoxB, aoxC, aoxD, aroA, and aroB may be useful for arsenite-oxidizing bacteria in abandoned arsenic-contaminated mines.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.97-103
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• 2012

BACKGROUND: Metal mines were actively developed in the early twentieth century in Korea; however, most of these mines were closed and abandoned without proper management. Therefore, toxic metal contamination in the vicinity of Korean abandoned metal mines has been reported. A risk assessment for these metals was performed for residents near by abandoned Sanyang metal mine. METHODS AND RESULTS: Soil and groundwater samples were collected from May to October 2007 around the mine. After pretreatment of these samples, metal concentrations were measured and then a risk assessment was performed using the Korean soil-contamination risk assessment guidelines. Cancer risk was the highest from inhalation of Pb-contaminated soil, followed in descending order by As-contaminated soil inhalation and water ingestion. The sum of carcinogenic risks was $3.35{\times}10^{-3}$. The noncarcinogenic risk was observed for inhalation of Hg-contaminated soil (5.71). CONCLUSION: Inhalation of soil in dust was the principal pathway to cause the health risk and most of the risk was attributed to As, Pb,Cd, and Hg contamination.