• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.97-102
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• 2007

An environmental survey from three abandoned metal mine areas was undertaken on to assess the risk of adverse health effects on human exposure to heavy metals influenced by past mining activities. Tailings contained high concentrations of heavy metals may have a impact on soils and waters around the tailing piles. In order to perform the human risk assessment, chemical analysis data of soils, rice grains and waters for As, Cd, Cu and Pb have been used. The HQ values for heavy metals via the rice consumption were significantly higher compared with other exposure pathways in all metal mine areas. The resulting HI values in three mine areas were higher than 9.0, and their toxic risk due to rice ingestion was strong in these mine areas. The cancer risk of being exposed to As by the rice consumption from the A, B and C mine areas was $5.1\;{\times}\;10^{-3}$, $6.8\;{\times}\;10^{-3}$ and $3.1\;{\times}\;10^{-3}$, respectively. The As cancer risk via the exposure pathway of rice ingestion from these mine areas exceeds the acceptable risk of 1 in 10,000 set for regulatory purposes. Thus, the daily intakes of rice by the local residents from these mine areas can pose a potential health threat if exposed by long-term As exposure.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.619-626
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• 2009

The price fluctuation of minerals are commonly occurred through the change of market condition, and the redevelopment of closed mines are usually happened if commercial requirement can be satisfied. After 2003, as the price of most of metals increased very rapidly, Korea government tried to find the possibility of reopening for some closed metal mines. The purpose of this article is to suggest the proper ways how effectively to regulate the mine pollution concerning the redevelopment of closed mines. For this work, with the recent price trends of metals and reopening possibility of closed metal mines in Korea were reviewed. And analysing the problems of regulations for the mine development permission and mine pollution control and reclamation process of Korea, several amendments of environmental and mining regulation regimes for redevelopment of closed mines were proposed.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.29-35
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to assess the applicability of acid mine drainage sludge (AMDS) pellets for the arsenic (As) stabilization and to suggest an evaluation method for arsenic stabilization efficiency in soil around abandoned coal mines. The soil samples were collected from the agricultural field around Ham-Tae, Dong-Won, Dong-Hae, and Ok-Dong coal mine. The As concentration in soil was exceeding the criteria of soil pollution level, except for Ham-Tae coal mine. The AMDS pellets are more appropriate to use by reducing dust occurrence during the transport and application process than AMDS powder. In addition, AMDS pellets were maintained the As stabilization efficiency. The application of AMDS pellets for the As stabilization in soil was assessed by column experiments. The AMDS pellets were more effective than limestone and steel slag, which used as the conventional additives for the stabilization process. The As extraction by $0.43M\;HNO_3$ or $1M\;NaH_2PO_4$ solution were appropriate evaluation methods for evaluation of As stabilization efficiency in the soil.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.53-61
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• 2011

This study examined evaluation on stabilization of major and trace elements in tailings by various surface water-preventing materials. Six columns were filled with tailings of the Sinlim mine, then covered with tailings only, compacted soils, clay, soil-bentonite mixture, pozzolan and bentonite mat. After injection of artificial rain water, the leachate was sampled with times (3, 6, 9 and 12 pore volume) and analysed for major (Ca, Na, Mg, K) and trace elements (As, Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn) by ICP-AES. With exception to pozzolan type, the pH values of leachate from the other types became stabilized from 5.5 to 7.5, and EC (electric conductivity) of leachate from them decreased with times. For the pozzolan type, however, the pH and EC of leachate increased with time due to its alkalinity producing system. Concentrations of most major and trace elements in leachate decreased and stabilized with time. Consequently, soil-bentonite mixed cover shows the best ability of water-preventing and reducing mobility of elements in tailings site.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.101-109
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• 2010

There are many slopes generally developed by excavation and cut slope with small steps on massive slopes of roads. Especially these cut slopes which excavating around fault fracture zone need a reinforcement technology in order to ensure safety. In the case of slope excavation, it is difficult to use the existing slope support at fracture zone because of geological characteristics. Especially the factor of safety decreases significantly due to the movement of blocks in bed rocks and the expansion of interspace of discontinuous planes in fractured zones caused by excavation. Thus an efficient reinforcement technique in accordance with geological properties of fracture zones needs to be developed because the existing slope support has a restricted application. Therefore it is necessary to develop the specialized rock bolt technique in order to ensure an efficient factor of safety for anomalous fracture zones in slopes and tunnels. The purpose of this study is to develop newly improved rock bolt to increase a supporting effect of the swellex bolt method used recently as a friction type in fracture zones.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2009.03a
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• pp.819-835
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• 2009

In order to investigate the field application of selected stabilization methods(cover soil method, surface and total interval treatment of embankment method) on rice paddies contaminated by heavy metals, column test was carried out with heavy metal-contaminated soils collected from rice paddies around abandoned mine site. Columns were made by acrylic and filled with untreated soil, treated soil mixed with amendments(lime stone and steel refining slag) and uncontaminated cover soil according to the design report. Distilled water was discharged into the columns with the velocity of 1 pore volume/day. During test, pH, EC, and heavy metal concentration were measured in the regular term. The column test result showed that the selected stabilization methods were effective remediation method to stabilize heavy metals in paddy soils, but it was also expected that application of surface treatment methods was required the careful observation on pH variation due to the lowest increment.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2009.09a
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• pp.1487-1506
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• 2009

A long-term field experiment of the selected stabilization methods(Cover system, full range and upper range treatment) was conducted to reduce the heavy metal mobility in farmland soil which was contaminated by heavy metals around abandoned mine site. Field experiments were established on the contaminated farmland with the wooden plate and filled with treated soil, which was mixed with lime stone and steel reforming slag except on control plot. Soil samples were collected and analyzed during the experiment period(about 4 months) after the installation of the plots. Field demonstration experiments results showed that the cover system and the full range treatment of the selected stabilization methods applied to the application ratio of lime stone 5% and steel refining slag 2% were effective for immobilizing heavy metal components in contaminated farmland soil.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.37-45
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• 2011

This study was conducted to recycle flotation tailings as non-sintered construction materials considering the economic and eco-friendly treatments. The particle size distribution( median $220\;{\mu}m$) of flotation tailings from Soon-shin mine was confirmed to be larger than that(median $140\;{\mu}m$) of tailings from Sam-kwang mine. Thus we investigated the properties of non-sintered eco-brick producted with the tailings from Sam-kwang mine and non-sintered water permeable block producted with the tailings from Soon-shin mine. Compressive strength of non-sintered water permeable block which was made with less than 25 wt% of tailings from Soon-shin mine was met with products class(over 14.70 MPa) of water permeable concrete(EL 245) from KEITL. Meanwhile, the coefficient of its permeability wasn't met with the products class( over $1.0{\times}10^{-2}\;cm/sec$). The properties of non-sintered eco-brick with less than 40 wt% of tailings from Sam-kwang mine were satisfied with third class in sintered clay brick products standard(KS L 4201). The non-sintered eco-brick as a result of leaching test on heavy metals by KSLT was verified to be environmentally stabile.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.475-482
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• 2021

This study proposed a strategy with literature review on effective monitoring of dispersion of the particulate matters (PM) emitted from domestic open pit lime mines. The mines generally produced a large amount of PM through the mine processes such as crushing and transportation of raw or crushed ores. The PM emission from mine facilities or transportation can be assessed using empirical equations which was prepared through the experimental tests to produce PM from ores. For effective monitoring of mine PM dispersion, this study showed a preliminary application of the monitoring network with multiple low-cost sensors around a main PM emission source for each mine site. Therefore, two domestic limestone mine sites were selected for this study, and install the monitoring network with low-cost PM sensors and LTE (Long-term evolution) data communication. Then, preliminary resultant PM data plotted according to monitoring duration showed typical PM dispersion patterns. The quantification of the PM dispersion patterns should be roughly prepared by a PM size-dependent dispersion modeling.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.29
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• pp.19.1-19.10
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• 2014

Objectives Lysosome is the cell-organelle which is commonly used as biomonitoring tool in environmental pollution. In this study, the lysosomal proteomic of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae was analyzed for utilization in the detection of toxic substances in mine water samples. Methods This work informs the expression of lysosomal proteomic in yeast in response with toxic chemicals, such as sodium meta-arsenite and tetracycline, for screening specific biomarkers. After that, a recombinant yeast contained this biomarker were constructed for toxic detection in pure toxic chemicals and mine water samples. Results Each chemical had an optimal dose at which the fluorescent protein intensity reached the peak. In the case of water samples, the yeast showed the response with sample 1, 3, 4, and 5; whereas there is no response with sample 2, 6, and 7. Conclusions The recombinant yeast showed a high ability of toxic detection in response with several chemicals such as heavy metals and pharmaceuticals. In the case of mine water samples, the response varied depending on the sample content.