• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
• /
• v.50 no.1
• /
• pp.6-12
• /
• 2007

Feasibility of laboratory-synthesized zerovalent iron was investigated to remove arsenic from leachates of tailings taken from an Au-Ag abandoned mine. The tailings were seriously contaminated with arsenic, and its potential adverse effect on the ecosystems around the mine seems to be significantly high. Long-term column experiments were conducted for about 3.5 months to evaluate the effectiveness of the synthesized zerovalent iron for removal of arsenic. Over than 95% removal efficiency of As was observed in the zerovalent iron mediated tests. In addition, the XRD data suggest that the corrosion products of ZVI were identified magnetite, maghemite, goethite, and lepidocrocite, all of which support Fe(II) oxidation as an intermediate step in the zerovalent iron corrosion process. The results indicate that arsenic can be removed from the tailing-leachate by the mechanism of coprecipitation and/or adsorption onto those iron oxides formed from ZVI corrosion.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.85-93
• /
• 2013

This study is conducted to evaluate the leaching of contaminants from mine tailing by natural water and finally to estimate the leaching and transportation of heavy metal contaminants by rainfall. In order to identify contaminated heavy metal of soil, 17 soil, 2 tailing and 2 waste dump and 2 control samples were taken at mine area and analyzed total metal contents. The leaching experiments were conducted using distilled water. Cu, Pb, Zn was extracted from the reddish mine tailing in a short period time, especially the extraction rate of Cu (45.0%) was highest. The contaminants were leached from the yellowish mine tailing within an hour and the leaching rate of Cd (42.0%) and Zn (17.2%) were relatively high. The reddish soil from the waste dump showed leaching of Cu (5.1%), Pb (4.0%) and Zn (3.3%), however the leaching rate was low except Mi (14.2%). From the yellowish soil sampled from the dumping site, the leaching of Cu (8.2%) and Ni (9.7%) was high while the leaching of Zn (0.2%) were relatively low.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.5-11
• /
• 2010

Abandoned mines release acid mine drainage and cause the contamination of soil and crops around the mine area. The objective of current study is to evaluate effect of mine on the soil and crop contamination. Soils, water, and crops were collected and analyzed, and the heavy metal data were classified into types of the soil, types of crops, and distance from the minehead. Surface soils of the mine area were highly contaminated with heavy metals, especially with zinc and lead. Tailings and cultivated paddy soils were also highly contaminated. Heavy metal concentrations upon distance from minehead decrease steadily as the distance from the minehead increase. The correlation between heavy metals was extracted from soils and the content in the rice samples showed a positive relation for arsenic and cadmium but not a meaningful relation for other metals.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.19-31
• /
• 2011

This study had been carried out to investigate spatial and temporal variations of the concentrations of trace metals for contaminated surface water in creek affected by leachate from the tailings impoundment of the Yeonhwa II mine for about 2 years. It was also to ascertain the metal removal efficiency for potentially deleterious metals by the artificial and natural attenuation processes such as retention ponds and hydrologic mixing of uncontaminated tributaries. The concentrations of As, Pb, Cd, and Cu for leachate in the rainy season were not detected. On the other hand, the concentrations of Zn, Fe, Mn, Al, and $SO_4^{2-}$ in the rainy season for leachate were 2-66 times higher than those in the dry season, due to the oxidation of the sulfide minerals and the dissolution of the secondary minerals. The concentrations of Zn and Cd for leachate and surface water of the upper creek in the rainy season exceeded the criteria of River Water Quality and Drinking Water Quality but in the dry season, those of analyzed all the metals (As, Pb, Cd, Cu, Zn, Cd, Fe, Mn, and Al) for surface water sampled at the study area were below the criteria of River Water Quality and Drinking Water Quality. In regard of the attenuation efficiency for the concentrations of metals, Fe, Mn, Al, Zn, Cd, As, and Cu were removed highly at retention ponds, while the removal efficiency for major cations and sulfate ($SO_4^{2-}$) were related to mixing of the uncontaminated tributaries. Therefore, the major attenuation processes of the metal and sulfate contents in creek affected by leachate from a tailing dump were precipitation (accompanied by metal co-precipitation and sorption), water dilution, and neutralization.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.38 no.5 s.174
• /
• pp.499-512
• /
• 2005

EPMA determined that Fe(Mn)-(oxy)hydroxides and well-crystallized Fe-(oxy)hydroxides and could contain a small amount of As $(0.3-11.0\;wt.\%\;and\;2.1-7.4\;wt.\%\;respectively)$. Amorphous crystalline Fe-(oxy) hydroxide assemblages were identified as the richest in As with $28-36\;wt.\%$. On the ternary $As_2O_5-SO_3-Fe_2O_3$ diagram, these materials were interpreted here as 'scorodite-like'. Dissolved As was attenuated by the adsorption on Fe-(oxy) hydroxides and Fe(Mn)-(oxy) hydroxides and/or the formation of an amorphous Fe-As phase (maybe scorodite: $FeAsO_4\cdot2H_2O$). Leaching tests were performed in order to find out leaching characteristics of As and Fe under acidic conditions. At the initial pHs 3 and 5, As contents dissolved from tailings of the cheongyang mine significantly increased after 7 days due to the oxidation of As-bearing secondary minerals (up to ca. $2.4\%$ of total), while As of Seobo mine-tailing samples was rarely released (ca. $0.0-0.1\%$ of total). Dissolution experiments at an initial pH 1 liberated a higher amount of As (ca. $1.1-4.2\%$ of total for Seobo tailings, $1.5-14.4\%$ of total for Cheongyang tailings). In addition, good correlation between As and Fe in leached solutions with tailings was observed. The kinetic problems could be the important factor which leads to increasing concentrations of As in the runoff water. Release of As from Cheongyang tailings can potentially pose adverse impact to surface and groundwater qualities in the surrounding environment, while precipitation of secondary minerals and the adsorption of As are efficient mechanisms for decreasing the mobilities of As in the surface environment of Seobo mine area.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
• /
• v.38 no.5
• /
• pp.259-268
• /
• 2005

Most of the tailings have been left without any management in their mines and have become the main source of serious environmental problems in nearby groundwater, stream and cultivated lands. To compare fractionation and potential mobility of heavy metals in tailings and paddy soils near abandoned 10-metalliferous mines in Korea, the distribution and chemical fractions of heavy metal and their mobility in relation to chemical compositions were investigated. The pollution index of heavy metal in mine tailing calculated with the permissible levels were in the order Cheongyang>Dogok>Beutdeun>Baegwoul mine, which were considered sufficient to raise environmental problems. The rates of 0.1M-HCl extractable Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn, and Ni to total content in paddy soils were 49.1, 50.7, 26.8, 18.4 and 2.9%, respectively, and their rates of heavy metals in paddy soils were higher than that of mine tailing. Dominant chemical forms of heavy metals in tailings were sulfide and residual form (63-91%), specially, the exchangeable portion of Cd (21%) was relatively higher than that of other metals in paddy soils. The mobility factor of heavy metals in tailings and paddy soils was in the order Cd>Zn>Cu>Pb, and the mobility factor in tailing varied considerably among the mines. The potential mobility of heavy metals in tailings showed significant positive correlation with water-soluble $Al^{3+}$ and $Fe^{3+}$ contents, while in paddy soils, it correlated negatively with soil pH values.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.34 no.3
• /
• pp.271-281
• /
• 2001

The characteristics of the heavy metal contamination in the soils affected by the tailings of the Palbong mine have been studied. The soils in the studied area consist mostly of loam by the particle size analysis, but a little of it, located near the stream, consist of loamy sand to sandy loam, finally to loam downward. The organic contents of soils are significantly low aoom 2 percent and the pH is in acidic ranging 6.0 $\pm$ 0.1. The samples of the parent rocks, the normal soils, the tailings and the channel deposits from the studied area were chemically analysed. From the result, the heavy metal concenlration of the soils is a little Jow compared with that of the parent rocks, shows the hydrologic process of the surface and the groundwater. The contamination of the tailings from the ore mining are high in lead, copper and arsenic. In the channel deposits the concenlrations of lead and copper are abnormally high but that of arsenic is uniquely low. And most of heavy metal contamination are decreased with the distance from the mine. It is caused by the properties of the surface and the ground water during the process of the heavy metal migration. The correlation-coefficient between sand and silt contents and the concentrations of Cd, Cu and Pb are significant but the amounts of As and Hg are increased with the clay contents. The dispersion of the heavy metals with the distance shows that the concentrations of them in the soils sampled at distance of 100 m to 200 m along the stream started near the Palbong mine are extremely high compared with those from other distances. These discrepancies are significant in Cd, Cu, Pb and Hg, but low in As. All the samples contain below detection limit of Cr+6 In the present stream water the concentrations of the heavy metals are not detected. So, it is interpreted that the concentrations in the soils are caused by the activities of the mining during the operation and have been continued by the dispersion from the tailings since after the closure of the mining, especially by the surface and ground water. The concentrations are diminished with the distance from the mining site, but in the interval of 800-2000 m increases abruptly. In the soil samples counted on the dispersion direction by wind, the lowering of the concentration is relatively uniform with the distance from the mining site. So, the rapid increase of the heavy metal concentrations is presumed to have been caused by the ground-water movement. In the migration of the heavy metals, the groundwater conditions, such as pH, Eh, the contents of colloidal particles, and Mn and Fe oxides are closely involveo. Integrating with these factors, it is interpreted that the groundwater conditions which have caused the heavy metal contamination of the studied area are those that the pH is about 3 in oxidized conditions, the contents of the colloidal particles are low, and Mn and Fe oxides are not involved in the migration of the heavy metals. Meanwhile, the vegetables growing on the soils in the studied area are not affected by the contamination of the heavy metals.

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

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.11 no.4
• /
• pp.1-9
• /
• 2006

The purpose of this study is to evaluate laboratory experiments on arsenic and cadmium removal from tailings using apatite at the Ulsan Abandoned Iron Mine, and to develop a stabilization technique. The results of this study show that the permeability is decreased proportionally to the amount of apatite when it is added below 8%, while this is almost constant when the amount of apatite is added above 10%. The water extraction test from tailings using deionized water for several days shows that pH (7.4-8.4) is almost constant or slightly increased when apatite is added below 8%, while it is slightly decreased when apatite is added above 10%. According to TCLP test, reduction of concentrations of heavy metals in leachate is proportional to amount of apatite added. It seems that precipitates generated from leachate-apatite chemical reaction are not redissolved. As a result, cadmium and arsenic in leachate is mostly removed when apatite is added above 10%, and it is suggested that a proper technique should be selected for field application because either mixed or layered method shows almost same removal efficiencies of cadmium and arsenic in tailings.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.17 no.6
• /
• pp.112-118
• /
• 2012

Fine suspended solids from mine drainage draw attentions due to their potential adverse influences on the water quality, such as increasing turbidity and degrading aesthetic landscape. Currently, sand filter beds are adapted in some mine drainage treating systems. However, more efficient system is in demand, as the existing sand beds reveal some problems, such as frequent maintenance intervals. Various filtering mediums including fly ash, mine tailing aggregates and the sand were tested for improving the current system, using column experimental set-up. Mine drainage samples were collected from the current treating systems in the abandoned H coal mine. The experiment was run for 7 days. Suspended solids recorded as 100.9 mg/L and the value exceeds the current standard, 30 mg/L. Sand was proved to still be the optimum medium for the fine suspended solids, compared to fly ash and fly ash + sand. Mine tailing aggregates were placed at the exit of the columns, substituting gravels. The tailing aggregates is made by mine tailings and clay. Sand bed filters can also be improved by mixing granular activated carbon, which was found to be economical and efficient in the batch experiment, conducted at the same time.