• Journal of Korea Soil Environment Society
• /
• v.3 no.2
• /
• pp.41-51
• /
• 1998

The research was conducted to measure the heavy metal pollution of soils and vegetations adjacent to the closed Daeseong coal mine in Keumsan, Chungnam. The studied area was divided into two sites ; the coal-bearing polluted and the non-polluted without coal. The samples of the weathered soils and vegetations(Miscnthus sinenis(MS) and Pinus rigida(PR)) were collected from both area. Cr, Mo, Ni, and Fe concentrations were high in the polluted soils, whereas Co, Sc, and Zn concentrations were high in the non-polluted soils. In the vegetations, Co, Cr, Sc, and Fe concentrations in the roots of MS and PR growing on the polluted sites were higher than the above-ground. However, on the non-polluted sites, Mo and Ni concentrations had an opposite trend. In the above-ground parts, high heavy metal concentrations (except Cr) were shown in MS of the non-polluted sites, whereas in the roots, heavy metal concentrations (except Zn) were high in the polluted sites. In the average heavy metal concentrations of two plants, most elements (except Zn) were lower in the plants than the soils. Comparing with vegetations and adjacent forest soils, heavy metal concentrations of the MS were similar to those of soil concentrations relative to the PR, suggesting that absorptions of the elements were higher in the MS than the PR.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
• /
• 2005.10a
• /
• pp.59-61
• /
• 2005

In Korea, hundreds of abandoned and closed coal and metallic mines are present in the steep mountain valleys due to the depression of the mining industry since the late 1980s. From these mines, enormous amounts of coal waste were dumped on the slopes, which causes sedimentation and acid mine drainage (AMD) to be discharged directly into streams causing detrimental effects on soil and water environments. A limestone slurry by-product (lime cake) is produced from the Solvay process in manufacturing soda ash. It has very fine particles, low hydraulic conductivities ($10^{-8}{\sim}10^{-9}cm/sec$), high pH, high EC due to the presence of CaO, MgO and $CaCl_2$ as major components, and traces of heavy metals. Due to these properties, it has potential to be used as a neutralizer for acid-producing materials. A field plot experiment was used to test the application of lime cake for reclaiming coal wastes. Each plot was 20 x 5 m (L x W) in size on a 56% slope. Treatments included a control (waste only), calcite ($CaCO_3$), and lime cake. The lime requirement (LR) for the coal waste to pH 7.0 was determined and treatments consisted of adding 100%, 50%, and 25% of the LR. The lime cake and calcite were also applied in either a layer between the coal waste and topsoil or mixed into the topsoil and coal waste. Each plot was hydroseeded with grasses and planted with trees. In each plot, surface runoff and subsurface water were collected. The lime cake treatments increased the pH of coal waste from 3.5 to 6, and neutralized the pH of the runoff and leachate of the coal waste from 4.3 to 6.7.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.50-60
• /
• 2020

Background: The relationship between risk factors and likelihood of occupational injury has been studied. However, what has been published has only provided a limited explanation of why some of the employees working in the same environment as other employees suffered a single-injury event, while other employees experienced multiple-injury events. This article reports on an investigation of whether artisanal and small-scale miners in Migori County of Kenya are susceptible to a single-injury or multiple-injury incidences, and if so, what underpinning parameters explain the differences between the single incident injured and the multiple incident injured group. Mine management commitment to safety in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) operations is also considered. Materials and methods: The research objectives were achieved by surveying 162 uninjured and 74 injured miners. A structured, closed-end questionnaire was administered to participants after the stratification of the study population and systematic selection of the representative samples. Results: The results showed that most injured miners suffer a single-injury incident rather than experiencing multiple-injury events, and laceration (28.40%) was the common injury suffered by the miners. The analysis showed that the risk factors for the single incident injured group were not similar to those in the multiple incident injured group. The research also found mine workers have low opinion about mine management/owners commitment to safety. Conclusion: The study concluded that mine management and miners need to be educated and sensitized on the dangers of this operation. Provision of safety gears and positive safety culture must be a top priority for management.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
• /
• 2005.10a
• /
• pp.101-102
• /
• 2005

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
• /
• 1996.11a
• /
• pp.81-87
• /
• 1996

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
• /
• 2006.04a
• /
• pp.171-182
• /
• 2006

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
• /
• 2002.04a
• /
• pp.127-130
• /
• 2002

Recently, the contamination with heavy metals in closed mines has been seriously considered since it can disturb human health through the polluted drinking-water and crops. Therefore, the concerns about the remediation of polluted land and treatment technology for hazardous matters have been accelerated. However, any of practical methods for treatment and/or remediation have not been yet suggested. In this research, a novel technology was studied to immobilize arsenic in tailings and soils disturbed by mining. In this technology, Fenton-like reaction were applied to immobilize arsenic in tailings. In the examination of Fenton-like reaction using pure pyrite, $H_2O$$_2$ and arsenic, the concentrations of extracted arsenic and iron were reduced up to 90 and 75%, respectively From the result of SEM-EDS, the Immobilization of arsenic was observed on the surface of pyrite. Thus, it can be said that the coating and/or adsorption prevents the extraction of arsenic.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.51 no.5
• /
• pp.401-407
• /
• 2018

For the treatment of heavy metals in the mine drainage from the closed mine area, various methods such as passive, active and semi-active treatments are considered. Among contaminated elements in the mine drainage, Mn is one of the difficult elements for the treatment because it needs high pH over 9.0 for its concentration to be reduced. In this study, the efficiency of various slag complex reactors (slag (S), slag+limestone (SL) and slag+Mn coated gravel (SG)) on Mn removal in the presence of Fe, which is a competitive element with Mn, was evaluated to investigate effective methods for the treatment of Mn in mine drainage. As a result of experiments on Mn removal without Fe during 358 days, using influent with $30{\sim}50Mn{\cdot}mg/L$ and pH 6.7 on the average, S reactor showed continuously high Mn removal efficiency with the average of 99.9% with pH 8.9~11.4. Using the same reactors, Mn removal experiments with Fe during 237 days were conducted with the influent with $40{\sim}60Mn{\cdot}mg/L$. The pH range of effluent reached to 6.1~10.0, which is slightly lower than that of effluent without Fe. S reactor showed the highest range of pH with 7.1~9.9, followed by S+L and S+G reactor. However, the efficiency of Mn removal showed S+L>S>S+G with the range of 94~100%, 68~100% and 68~100%, respectively in spite of relatively low pH range. S+L reactor showed the most resistance on Fe input, which means other mechanisms such as $MnCO_3$ formation by the carbonate prouced from the limestone or autocatalysis reaction of Mn contributed to Mn removal rather than pH related mechanisms. The evidence of reactions between carbonates and Mn, rhodochrosite ($MnCO_3$), was found from the X-ray diffraction analysis of precipitates sample from S+L reactor. From this study, the most effective reactors on Mn removal in the presence of Fe was S+L reactor. The results are expected to be applied for the Mn containing mine water treatment in the presence of Fe within the relatively low range of pH.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
• /
• 2004.09a
• /
• pp.48-58
• /
• 2004

Objectives of this research were to reclaim the coal mine overburdens using the lime waste cake from the soda ash production by stabilizing the overburden slopes, introducing neutralizing the AMD from runoff and leachate in an attempt find the sink to dispose the lime wastes and alleviate the environmental problems caused by the closed coal mines. The pH changes of the runoff and leachate collected in the tanks at the end of the experimental plots, averaged over measurements from April to August, indicated that the runoff pH of the coal overburden was 4.3 but increased significantly to the ranges of 6.7 to 7.1 with treatments of tile calcites and lime wastes. This might be related with the decreases in Fe concentrations in the runoff and leachate from the coal overburdens. The Fe concentrations in tile runoff seemed to increase with the amounts of precipitation. Results demonstrated that the amounts of lime wastes at 25% of the lime requirement were sufficient for neutralizing the acidic coal overburden. Either layering between the coal waste and topsoil or mixing with coal overburdens could be adopted as the lime waste treatment method. The lime wastes from the soda ash production might have a potential to be recycled for the reclamation of the abandoned coal mines to alleviate the environmental problems associated with coal mine waste.

• Journal of Korea Soil Environment Society
• /
• v.2 no.1
• /
• pp.45-50
• /
• 1997

The change of industrial structure has brought the sharp declination of mine products, and has made many mines closed, which results in environmental pollution by untreated acid mine drainage(AMD). AMD with low pH and high concentration of heavy metals could severely destroy the ecosystem. Many researches have been carried out for the treatment of AMD. In this study, we have treated AMD with oak compost, mushroom compost, sludge cake and cow manure which usually used in AMD treatment systems, and compared the capability of each organic matter. Cow manure and oak compost have been most effective among 4 organic materials. Oak compost removed the heavy metals by ion exchange between Ca-rich particles and soluble heavy metal ions. It also captured the heavy metals using bound functional groups like -OH and -COO-. Sulfate reducing bacteria existing in the cow manure removed effectively heavy metals by producing metal sulfide compound. Therefore, it is effective to use both organic materials in mixture on the treatment of AMD.