• 한국지구물리탐사학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.511-514
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• 2003

The objective of this study is to investigate the vertical variation of heavy metals in tailings from the Sangdong W mine. Tailings samples were taken at 6 drilling sites with 50cm intervals up to 21 meters in depth and dried at room temperature. The pH value, loss-on-ignition and water contents were measured. In addition, chemical compositions of the samples were determined by AAS after 0.1 N HCl leaching and ICP-AES after aqua regia leaching. The pH values were in the range of 7.4 to 9.5 due to chemical reactions of carbonate minerals. The ranges of heavy metals (mg/kg) extracted by 0.1N HCl were from 0.17 to 0.93 for Cd, 0.04 to 4.39 for Cu, 0.03 to 10.9 for Pb and 0.06 to 14.1 for Zn and those extracted by aqua regia were $3.10\~10.5,\;23.61\~251,\;63.7\~337\;and\;42.6\~134$ for Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn, respectively. Generally, the metal concentrations in tailings extracted by 0.1N HCl decreased with depth, whilst those extracted by aqua regia have a tendency to increase with depth in some case. Those trends might be due to the change of oxidation-reduction condition of the tailings.

• Journal of Industrial Technology
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• v.29 no.A
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• pp.55-60
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• 2009

Stabilization treatment is one of processes for wastes and their components to reduce their toxicity and migration rates to surroundings. Inorganic binders such as calcium hydroxide, blast furnace slag and red mud were tested for their potential applicability to in-situ stabilization of heavy metal contaminated tailings in the abandoned metal mines. Columns(150mm dia. ${\times}$ 450mm length) filled with mixtures of inorganic binders and tailing from the Geumjang mine with various mixing ratios of binders to tailings, 5%, 7% and 9% were applied artificial rainfall tests for 28 days. Effluents from columns filled with calcium hydroxide and tailing showed high pH's of ~12.5 and a increasing trend of concentration in Pb and Zn with a significant decrease in permeability in terms of elapsed days. Those with burning slag and tailing showed pH's of ~8.5 and significantly low concentrations in heavy metals with a stable permeability. In case of red mud, effluents showed significantly low concentrations in heavy metals but a decreased permeability with pH's of ~10.5. Conclusively, this basic study suggests burning furnace slag be a potential stabilizer for effective treatment of heavy metal contaminated mine tailings.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.104-111
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• 2004

Several tests were conducted to optimize design parameters of soil washing technique for arsenic contaminated tailings and soils. Arsenic contaminated tailings and soils have been sampled from the N nine, Kwangwondo and the K mine, Kyungsangbukdo, respectively. According to the result of sequential extraction procedure, total arsenic concentrations were 21,028 $\pm$ 190, 443$\pm$7, and 37$\pm$3 mg/kg, for mine tailings, dry field, and river sedimentary soil, respectively. The subtotal of weakly bonded and easily releasable arsenic concentrations which were 2,284$\pm$100 (10.9%), 151$\pm$5 (34.0%), 15$\pm$3 (39.5%)mg/kg for mine tailings, dry field, and river sedimentary soil, respectively. Kinetics of arsenic extraction using NaOH showed that arsenic was extracted more than 90% after 6 hours for all samples. The optimized concentration of NaOH were 200 mM for all samples while the optimized dilution ratio were different to have 1:10 (mine tailings) and 1:5 (dry field, river sedimentary soil), respectively. Results of sequential soil washing tests using NaOH showed that arsenic concentrations obtained by Korean Standard Test Procedure were decreased to meet the regulation for both river sedimentary soil and dry field while they were not decreased largely for mine tailings, even though NaOH had much higher efficiencies of arsenic extraction than other extractants.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.31-41
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• 2011

The objectives of this study were to investigate the efficiencies of the stabilizers such as mono-potassium phosphate (MKP), phosphate fertilizer and red mud in treating the mine tailings contaminated with heavy metals and to characterize the changes in fractionations of the heavy metals during the stabilization. The TCLP results showed that the stabilization efficiencies of Cd, Pb and Zn increased with the increase in the stabilizer dosage and the reaction times. MKP showed the highest efficiencies for the heavy metals stabilization among the stabilizers tested. When the mine tailings were amended with MKP, the TCLP concentrations of Cd, Pb and Zn were reduced by 79~97%, 61~84%, and 89~99%, respectively. When the composite stabilizers, MKP/phosphate fertilizer or MKP/red mud, were used, the stabilization efficiencies were lower than when MKP was used as a single stabilizer. The sequential extraction results showed that carbonates fraction of Cd and Zn increased generally. Especially, when red mud was used, carbonates fraction of Cd and Zn increased 5 and 18 times, respectively. In the case of Pb, the treatment with MKP increased residual fraction by 10 times. The results showed that MKP was the most effective in stabilizing the heavy metals (Cd, Pb and Zn) to improve the efficacy of the composite binders.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Groundwater Environment
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.148-154
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• 1998

Gubong gold-mine, previously one of the largest gold mines in Korea, is located at the mid-west of the South Korea. In the areas nearby the mine, the shallow groundwater was the major source for domestic and farming water-supply. Soil contamination by Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn was previously known in this area. This study is objected to identify quality of the shallow groundwater, possibly affected by the mine tailings. Samples were collected from a nearby stream, shallow groundwater and seepage from the tailings. Chemical analysis for the water quality includes major cations such as Na, K, Ca, and Mg, anions as F, Cl, NO$_3$, SO$_4$, HCO$_3$, and trace elements as Al, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb, Se, As, Hg. Water types could be drawn into four groups from the plots of Piper, Stiff diagrams and cluster analysis. SAR-Conductivity plot indicates the water does not pose either alkalinity or salinity hazards for irrigation. Major contaminant in groundwater appeared to be arsenic, released from arsenopyrites in tailings by oxidation. Dredging of buried railing materials could stimulate the release of arsenic from the sediments to the groundwater.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.411-429
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• 2018

Daeyoung mine (also called "Daema mine") produced gold and silver from mainly gold- and silver-bearing quartz veins. The mine tailings are a waste hazard, but most of the tailings were swept away or dispersed throughout the area around the mine long before the tailing dump areas were transformed into agricultural land. Soil liner and protection facilities, such as retaining walls, were constructed in the mine area to prevent the loss of tailings. The content of the tailings is 3,424.41~3,803.61 mg/kg, which exceeds the safety standard by a factor of 45. In addition, contamination was detected near agricultural areas and in the sediments in downstream drainage channels. A high level of As contamination was concentrated near the waste tailings yard; comparaable levels were detected in agricultural areas close to streams that ran through the waste dump yard, whereas the levels were much lower in areas far from the streams. The contamination in stream sediments showed a gradual decrease with distance from the mine waste yard. Based on these contamination patterns, we concluded that there are two main paths that affect the spread of contaminants: (1) loss of mine waste, and (2) the introduction of mine waste into agricultural areas by floods after transportation by streams. The agricultural areas contaminated by mass inflow of mine waste can act as contamination sources themselves, affecting other agricultural areas through the diffusion of contaminants. At present, although the measured effect in minimal, sediments in streams are contaminated by exposed mine waste and surface liners. It is possible for contaminants to diffuse or spread into nearby areas if heavy elements trapped in soil grains in contaminated agricultural areas leach out as soil solution or contaminant particles during diffusion into the water supply.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.473-484
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• 2016

This study aims to establish a monitoring method for managing the effective maintenance of tailings dams. The monitoring of a tailings dump area involves several parameters and their investigation through a selection of evaluation items. The extents of defects and progressive failures also need to be effectively estimated. Therefore, the monitoring items can be subdivided into categories relating to the retaining wall structure (concrete wall, reinforcing stone wall, mesh gabions) and general facilities (liner, covering soil, slope, tailings, rain protection facility, leachate, planting), and quantitative evaluations can then be conducted for each condition. In doing so, we developed a systematic monitoring method that assesses the dam maintenance condition with grades and scores. The field application of the monitoring method results showed it to provide a more detailed evaluation than existing monitoring methods: the method detected an additional 16 defects missed by conventional methods. The evaluation gave scores of 89.3, 22.2, and 27.8 to the Geumjang mine tailings dam, the Gupoong mine tailings dam, and the Hwachun mine tailings dam, respectively. The advanced method can provide quantitative evaluation and perform detailed monitoring of the dams. This quantitative evaluation can be used to decide on maintenance priorities, select the main management items, and establish schedules of maintenance.

• 한국지구물리탐사학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.544-547
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• 2003

The objective of this study is to investigate the contamination levels and dispersion patterns of arsenic and heavy metals and to estimate the bioaccessible fraction of the metals in soil and plant samples in the vicinity of the abandoned Songcheon Au-Ag mine. Tailings, soils, plants (Chinese cabbage, red pepper, soybean, radish, sesame leaves, green onion, lettuce, potato leaves, angelica and groundsel) and waters were collected around the mine site. After appropriate preparation, all samples were analyzed for As, Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn by ICP-AES and ICP-MS. Elevated levels of As and heavy metals were found in tailings. Mean concentrations of As in agricultural soils were higher than the permissible level. Especially, maximum level of As in farmland soil was 513 mg/kg. The highest concentrations of As and Zn were found in Chinese cabbage (6.7 mg/kg and 359 mg/kg, respectively). Concentrations of As, Cd, and Zn in most stream waters which are used for drinking water around this mine area were higher than the permissible levels regulated in Korea. Maximum levels of As, Cd and Zn in stream waters were 0.78 mg/L, 0.19 mg/L and 5.4 mg/L, respectively. These results indicate that mine tailings can be the main contamination sources of As and heavy metals in the soil-water system in the mine area. The average of estimated bioaccessible fraction of As in farmland soils were $3.7\%$ (in simulated stomach) and $10.8\%$ (in simulated small intestine). The highest value of bioaccessible fraction of metal in farmland soils was $46.5\%$ for Cd.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.479-484
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• 2007

Bacterial communities at 10 cm, 100 cm, and 200 cm depths in a 100-year-old lead-zinc tailing heap were evaluated by constructing 16S rRNA gene libraries. In total, 98 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were identified from 193 clones at a 3% sequence difference level. The OTU number and species richness decreased with the depth. Species composition was significantly different between the three libraries. Fifty-seven percent of the examined clones were Acidobacteria and 27% belonged to Proteobacteria. Other sequences included Chloroflexi, Firmicutes, Chlamydiae, Actinobacteria, Gemmatimonadetes, Nitrospira, and three unclassified OTUs. Alphaproteobacteria, Betaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Actinobacteria were mainly distributed in the rhizosphere of naturally colonizing plants; however, Deltaproteobacteria, Acidobacteria, and Chloroflexi tended to inhabit the deeper tailings (below the 100 cm-depth).

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2004.05a
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• pp.616-619
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• 2004

This study has focused on the possibility for recycling of tailings from the Sangdong tungsten mine as powder. The experimental tests for entrapped water ratio were carried out in accordance with the specificed method by Okamura. The rheological measurements of cement paste were conducted by using a commerically digital Brookfield viscometer (Model LVDV-II+) equipped with cylindrical spindles. The results of this study, in case of cement paste mixed with tailings, entrapped water ratio was decreased with increasement of mixing ratio. Thickness of pseudo water film was increased, and mean plastic viscosity was decreased with increasing replacement.