• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.9-18
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• 2003

Sampling of waters from each stage of treatment system (Successive Alkalinity Producing System; SAPS), tailings seepage, and spring near the Hanchang coal mine of Kangwon Province were carried out seasonally and analyzed to evaluate the source and possible path of groundwater contamination by acid mine drainage (AM). Sulfur isotope compositions were measured to identify the origin of groundwater contaminations and the sulfate reduction processes in the SAPS. Low pH and high metal concentration of spring water indicates possibility of the groundwater contamination by AMD. Removal efficiency of acidity of the SAPS was 18.17 g/$\textrm{m}^2$/day on an average and the metal removal efficiency was almost 100%, which was higher than those of other treatment systems. However, no appreciable decrease of sulfur content and almost similar sulfur isotope compositions of water from each stage of the treatment system may suggest incomplete or very poor sulfate reduction by sulfate reducing bacteria. Chemical and sulfur isotope compositions showed that spring water was contaminated by seepage from mine tailings. And seepage of stonewall, a part of treatment system was affected by both tailings seepage and mine adit drainage. In this study site, the treatment system was constructed for the only AMD from mine adit not for tailings seepages, which resulted in the groundwater contamination from tailing seepages. Similar situation is expected in other abandoned coal mine areas.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.287-293
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• 2007

Heavy metal contamination and biological toxicity of mine drainages and sediments in abandoned mines were studied. Mine drainages had pH at a range of 2.94~7.86, and contained heavy metals at a toxic level. For coal mines, toxicity of mine drainage to Daphnia magna was attributable to acidic pH. In addition to the low pH, suspended heavy metals such as Zn and Cu contributed to toxicity of mine drainages at abandoned metalliferous mines. All mine sediments studied in this work showed biological toxicity to Chironomus riparius, having mortality at a range of 15~60%. However, its relationship with physicochemical properties including heavy metal content of the sediments was not statistically explained. Exceptionally clay ($< 2{\mu}m$ particle) content was negatively correlated with the biological toxicity for sediment samples collected at the same abandoned mines.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2004.09a
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• pp.37-47
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• 2004

In Korea, over three hundreds of the coal mines were closed or abandoned due to the depression of the mining industry since the late 1980s. Many of them locate in the steep mountain valleys and the coal mine wastes had been disposed without a proper treatment From these mines, enormous amounts of coal mine overburdens have been abandoned in the slopes and the ample amounts of acid mine drainage (AMD) from either portal or overburdens have been discharging directly to the streams, causing the detrimental effects on soil and water qualities. 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 the vegetation alleviate the environmental problems caused by the closed coal mines. The percentages of the grass distribution ratio (%) and the surface coverage ($\textrm{cm}^2$) in each treatment plot were determined during June to August after seed spraying grasses such as orchard grass (Dactylis glomerata L), Kentucky Bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.) and Eulalia (Miscanthus sinensis Anderss) at the end of May. The grasses covered only 15.5 % of the coal overburden plot at the early stage but the coverage was increased with time to 33% in August. Growth of such grasses was enhanced with the combined treatments of lime waste and topsoil resulting in the increased surface coverage by the grasses. The Increment of the surface coverage from June to August was higher with lime waste treatments. The distribution percentages and surface coverage were highest when the lime wastes were treated at 25 % of the lime requirement. This might be related with the high salt contents in the hire wastes. Results demonstrated that the amounts of lime wastes at 25% of the lime requirement were sufficient for neutralizing the acidic coal overburden and introducing the re-vegetation. Either layering between the coal waste and topsoil or mixing with coal overburdens could be adopted as the lime waste treatment method. The combined treatment of lime wastes and topsoil was recommended for re-vegetation in the coal overburden slopes. 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.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.111-121
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• 2003

The objective of this study is to investigate the physical and chemical properties for environmental assessment of water system affected by acid mine drainage (AMD) from coal mining activities in the Youngwol, Jungseon and Pyungchang areas in Korea. During November 2000 to July 2002, 6 times of water samples were collected season-ally from acid mine drainage and nearby streams at 13 coal mines in the study area. The physical and chemical properties including pH, Eh, TDS, salinity, bicarbonates and DO were measured in the field. Eighteen cations includ-ing Al, Ca, Fe, Mg, Mn and Zn, and 6 anions including nitrates and sulfates were also analyzed by ICP-AES and If, respectively. Acid water from the Jungam coal mine has typical characteristics of AMD with very low pH(3∼4) and high TDS(1,000∼5,000 mg/1). Relatively high concentrations(mg/kg) of heavy meals, especially for Al(380), Fe(80), Mn(44) and Zn(8), were found in water samples from the Jungam coal mine area. Water samples from the Seojin, Sebang and Sungjin coal mines also contained over 50 mg/l of Al, >100 mg/1 of Fe and )10 mg/1 of Mn. In addition to anioins, over 1,000 mg/l of sulfate was found in several water samples. Seasonally, the concentrations of metals and sulfates varied; wet season samples were relatively higher in metals and sulfates than dry season samples. It is needed to establish the proper remediation and environmental monitoring of the AMD continuously.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.533-539
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• 2014

Mine wastes such as acid mine drainage (AMD) can cause the detrimental effects on surrounding environment, thereby eventually threatening human health. Main objective of this study was to evaluate the neutralizing effect of fly ash (FA) as a stabilizing material AMD. Field plot was constructed in a coal waste depot which has caused aluminium-whitening adjacent to the stream. Different mixing ratios of FA were applied on a top of the soil, and then the physicochemical properties of runoff and soil were monitored. Constructed plots were as following: control (mine waste only (W)), mine waste + 20% ($w\;w^{-1}$)of FA (WC20M), mine waste + 40% ($w\;w^{-1}$)of FA (WC40M), and WC40M dressed with a fresh soil at the top (WC40MD). Result showed that initial pH of runoff in control was 5.09 while that in WC40M (7.81) was significantly increased. For a plot treated with WC40M, the concentration of Al in runoff was decreased to $0.22mg\;L^{-1}$ compared to the W as the control ($4.85mg\;L^{-1}$). Moreover, the concentration of Fe was also decreased to less than half at the WC40M compared to the control. Application of FA can be useful for neutralizing AMD and possibly minimizing adverse effect of AMD in mining area.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.142-152
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• 2014

In this study, generic characteristics of the acid mine drainage (AMD), removal efficiency of iron, aluminium and manganese by chemical treatment, electrolysis and hybrid process using electrolysis after neutralization were evaluated. The pH of AMD was inversely proportional to the rainfall. In dry-season, the average pH of AMD was ranged from 4.5 to 5.5, showing slight variation. However, the pH of AMD was gradually decreased along with rainfall and dropped to 3.02 in September showing the greatest rainfall. Removal efficiency of heavy metals by chemical treatments using three different neutralizing agents or by electrolysis was low. However, a hybrid process performed with electrolysis after addition of neutralization shows higher removal capacity for heavy metal ions than neutralization-alone and electrolysisalone process.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.15-22
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• 2019

Coal combustion products are generated during coal combustion and can be grouped into fly ash and bottom ash depending on collection methods. Fly ash and bottom ash can be recycled for various purposes based on their characteristics. Australia is the fourth largest coal production country in the world and reuses coal ash as cement, concrete, mine filler, and agricultural soil amendment. When fly ash is used as a supplement for cement and concrete, strength of the cement and the durability of the concrete can be improved. Use of coal combustion product for mine backfill stabilizes underground mine voids and stores a large amount of coal ash in the voids. Because of alkalinity of coal combustion products, it can neutralize acid mine drainage when used for mine backfill. In addition, it can be used as an agricultural soil amendment to improve acidity and physical properties of the soil and to supply plant nutrients. Recycling of fly ash in Australia will be further expanded because of its low trace element contents that can be toxic to plants and low radioactive element contents existing within soil background concentrations. The characteristics of coal combustion products are related to the characteristics of the coal used for combustion, and since Korea imports coal from Australia, Korean coal combustion products also can be recycled for various purposes.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.103-109
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• 2003

The mineralogy of material left after evaporation of acid mine drainage water is generally dependent on the chemical composition of the source water. The residues formed by the evaporation of acid mine water in the Dong-hae coal mine area consists mainly of gypsum (CaSO$_4${\circ}$2$H_2O$) with mine. amounts of alunogen (Al$_2$(SO$_4$)$_3$${\circ}$17$H_2O$) and hexahydrite (MgSO$_4$${\circ}$<.TEX>6$H_2O$). Gypsum was identified from both of the bottom precipitates and the evaporation residues of acid mine water. Alunogen, an aluminum sulfate hydrate, was also formed by evaporation and occurred as needle-like crystals. Aluminum is derived from chemical dissolution of alumine-silicate mineral such as pyre-phyllite, illite and chlorite in wasted rocks. Hexahydrite in evaporation residues occured as needle-like, fibrous, and acicular crystals and was associated with gypsum and alunogen.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2006.04a
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• pp.183-193
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• 2006

Several metalliferous and coal mines, including Seojin and Okdong located at the Kangwon province, were abandoned or closed since 1989 due to the mining industry promotion policy and thus disposed an enormous amount of mining wastes without a proper treatment facilities, resulting in water and soil pollution in the downstream areas. However, no quantitative assessment was made on soil and water pollution by the transport of mining wastes such as acid mine drainage, mine tailing, and rocky waste. In this research, total and fractional concentrations of heavy metals in mining wastes were analyzed and accordingly the degree of water and soil pollutions in the stream area were quantitatively assessed employing the several pollution indices. Concentrations of Ni, Cd, and Pb in soils near the abandoned coal mine areas were 1,240.0, 25.0 and 1,093.0 mg/kg, respectively, and these concentrations were higher than those in soils near the closed metalliferous mine areas. Also Cu concentrations in soils near the tailing dams were about 1967 mg/kg, which is considered as very polluted level. Results demonstrated that soil at the abandoned mine areas were highly contaminated by AMO, tailing, and effluents of the mining wastes. Therefore, a prompt countermeasure on the mining waste treatment and remediation of the codntaminated water and soil should be made to the abandoned or closed metalliferous and coal mines located at the abandoned mine area.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.86 no.4
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• pp.435-442
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• 1997

The research was carried out to investigate the contamination of stream water by the acid mine drainage originated from the abandoned coal mines and coal waste rock in Keumsan, Chungnam. The pH, sulfate and chemical compositions in the stream water were analyzed. At the polluted sites, the pH of stream water was the strong acid, ranging from 3.46 to 4.29. The pH shows negative correlations with sulfate, manganese, copper, zinc, iron and magnesium concentrations. Sulfate concentrations of the polluted stream water, 236.73-310.53mg/l, had 10 times more than those of the non-polluted stream water. The concentrations of heavy metals, Mn and Fe, in the polluted water were 0.56 - 0.83mg/l and 5.89 - 10.58mg/l, respectively. The Mn concentrations were 20 times higher than those of the non-polluted stream water. Compared with those in the non-polluted stream water, the Mg and Ca concentrations in the polluted stream water were high because of leaching from rock and soil to water by the acidifications. Calculated AMDI(Acid Mine Drainage Index) values are low in the polluted stream water, relative to those of the non-polluted water.