• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.19-27
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• 2013

Deformation of a slope at a coal waste depot and the natural slope under the depot was surveyed and investigated at Dogye village in Samcheock city, Gangwon Province. To investigate the behaviors of the slopes, wire sensors and a rain gauge were installed on the crest of the waste depot slope and inclinometers were installed in the natural slope. The results of deformation monitoring at the crest of the waste depot slope using wire sensors revealed increased deformation with increasing cumulative rainfall. The results of monitoring horizontal deformation of the natural slope revealed that maximum horizontal deformation was also affected by cumulative precipitation. However, the groundwater level at the natural slope showed no change with rainfall. These measurements confirm that deformation at coal mine waste depots is closely related to precipitation, indicating that self-loading at such depots increases with rainfall infiltration, thus causing deformation of the waste depot slope. In addition, increasing the self-load of the coal mine waste depot may cause deformation of the underlying natural slope.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.57-66
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• 2015

A numerical analysis was performed of the seepage from and stability of a mine waste-dump slope in Imgi, Busan, considering rainfall intensity. The 40-45° slope angle of the waste dump is relatively steep, and the depth of the waste dump down to bedrock is 7-8 m. The groundwater level was 6.6 m below the surface. Various laboratory tests on samples obtained from the waste dump were performed to determine the input data for seepage and stability analyses of the waste-dump slope during rainfall. The results of seepage analysis for various rainfall intensities using the SEEP/W program show that the wetting front moved down with increasing rainfall duration. When the rainfall intensity was > 50 mm/ hour and the duration was > 24 hours, the waste dump became fully saturated because the wetting front reached the groundwater level. The results of slope stability analysis coupled with seepage analysis using the SLOPE/W program show that the safety factor of the slope decreased as the wetting front moved down due to rainfall infiltration. After continuous rainfall for 5-6 hours, the safety factor of the slope suddenly decreased but then recovered and converged. The sudden decrease was induced by an increase in pore-water pressure and a decrease in matric suction down to a certain depth as the wetting front approached the potential sliding surface.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.215-221
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• 2005

Numerous abandoned or closed mines are present in the steep mountain valleys in Korea due to the depression of the mining industry since the late 1980s. From the mines, enormous amounts of wastes were dumped on the slopes causing sedimentation and acid mine drainage to be discharged directly into streams causing detrimental effects on surrounding environment. Objective of this research was to evaluate the feasibility of the lime cake by-product from the soda ash production (Solvay process) to neutralize the pyrophyllite mine wastes, which have discharged the acid drainage to soil and stream in the watershed. The pH of mine wastes was strongly acidic at pH 3.67 containing over 16% of $Al_2O_3$ and 11% of $Fe_2O_3$. Whereas the lime cake by-product was strongly basic at pH 9.97 due to high contents of CaO, MgO and $CaCl_2$ as major components. Column experiments were conducted to test the neutralizing capacity of the lime cake by-product for the acidic pyrophyllite mine wastes. The column packed with the wastes (control) was treated with the lime cake by-product, calcium carbonate, the dressing soil or combination. The distilled water was eluted statically through the column and the leachate was collected for the chemical analyses. Treatments of the mine wastes with the lime cake by-product (or calcium carbonate) as mixtures increased pH of the leachate from $3.5{\sim}4.0\;to\;7{\sim}8$. Concentrations of Fe and Al in the leachate were also decreased below 1.0 mg $L^{-1}$. A Similar result was observed at the combined treatments of the mine waste, the lime by-product (or calcium carbonate) and the dressing soil. The results indicated that the lime cake by-product could sufficiently neutralize the acid drainage from the pyrophyllite mine wastes without dressing soils.

• Journal of the Korean Professional Engineers Association
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.47-56
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• 2012

According to the policy of coal industry promotion, a lot of mines were abandoned. As the abandoned mines were neglected, environmental pollution such as settlement of ground, ground-water run-off, landscape damage etc were accompanied around abandoned mines. The government was promoting countermeasures of environmental contamination but most of the Countermeasures were aimed at protecting the ecological system not infrastructure. For this reason, abandoned mines impact on infrastructure has been relatively neglected. Most mines are located in mountainous so there is a tunnel among typical infrastructure around abandoned mines. In this paper, the effect of Mine drainage, Typical pollution source of abandoned mine, was introduced into the using tunnel focusing on the types and examples.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.13-24
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• 2010

To investigate the necessity and background of the metal recycling from urban mine resources, 4 bigger problems such as the limitation of the underground resources, consumption of the metal resources, contamination of environment and metal recycling business were reviewed. Waste management and recycling are the foremost issues facing Korea on its path to sustainable development in the 21st century. Especially, metal recycling from urban mines is the most urgent fact for global environment and resources conservation. In order to build a recycling-oriented society, it is necessary to develop the recycling technology, recycling practices and a recycling-oriented economic system.

• Journal of the Speleological Society of Korea
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• no.92
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• pp.9-18
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• 2009

A number of closed metal mines act as point sources of contamination on nearby streams, soils and plants in our country. The contamination of twelve decomposed samples had earned from nine closed metal mines had been evaluated by TEA-3000. The contents of heavy metal with ion fraction exchange and carbonate fraction forms had been showed that the speciation of heavy metals represented with easy solubility, mobility and bioavailable of plants, and in case of sulfide compounds and organic residuals forms are related with the speciation of metals which may be stable forms because of strong bindable capacity. Also heavy metals elements in mosts of mines got with relative stable within crystal lattice, but results of trace element analyser showed that, in the most of tailings from mine areas, large portions of concentration of heavy metals were explained as stable from, sulfides/ organics and residual. In tailing from Imchun mines, the concentrations extracted by water were relatively high as compared with other mine areas whose total concentrations were very high because of large quantities of exchangeable ions and carbonates and low soil pH. Danger Index (D.I.) suggested in this study was based on the cumulative concentrations of step 1 and 2 from the result of trace element analyser. When the soil pH was considered, this index became better indicator to determine the priority for the remediation of mine area.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.75-82
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• 2006

Most of limestone mines in Korea have been developed by a open-cut mining method in consideration of a deposited condition of ore, ore recovery, safety, economic efficiency, etc.. But it has produced environmental problems such as dust flying, blasting noise & vibration, and spoil of farmlands due to slope failure of waste rock mass caused by access road construction, fragmentation & crush of rocks, blasting, transportation, and mineral processing. In this study, it has been suggested for measures to reduce mine hazards caused by open- cut mining of limestone nines.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.23-35
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• 2011

In order to review the recycling status of urban mine resources in Taiwan, background and history of recycling industries, system of the recovery fund management committee(RFMC), copper recycling with non-ferrous metals, recycling of ELV(end of life vehicles) and recycling of EAF dust were surveyed. Taiwan is a leading country of the world in the metal consumption per capita. Therefore, a lot of waste metals were generated. In other words, urban mine resources are abundant in Taiwan and have some advantages in recycling. There are more than thou-sand recycling plants in Taiwan. Half of them are non-ferrous metal recyclers.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.243-261
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• 2016

This research study focuses on utilizing sandstone which is overburden waste rock in coal mines to use in concrete as a replacement of fine aggregate. Physical properties of sandstone like water absorption, moisture content, fineness modulus etc., were found to be similar to conventional fine aggregate. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analysis was carried out for analysing elemental composition of sandstone. There was no sulphur content in sandstone which is a good sign to carry the replacement. Fine aggregate was replaced with sandstone at 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% by volume and moulds of concrete cubes and cylinders were prepared. Compressive strength of concrete cubes was tested after 3, 7 and 28 days and split tensile & flexural strength was determined after 28 days. The strength was found to be increasing marginally with increase in sandstone content. Fine aggregate that was replaced by 100% sandstone gave highest strength among all the replacements for the compressive, split tensile and flexural strengths. Though increase in strength was marginal, still sandstone can be an effective replacement for sand in order to save the natural resource and utilize the waste sandstone.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.92-101
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• 2021

The status of waste generation and recycling in 32 countries in the European Union (EU), Japan, and the United States was investigated and summarized to encourage overseas market expansion for domestic urban mining industries. Among the 32 EU countries, Germany has the highest amount of material consumption and generates the largest quantity of waste. Minerals such as mine and soil wastes constitute the largest type of waste in the EU. With respect to waste treatment techniques, landfill and recycling are applied to 39% and 38% of the waste, respectively, implying the necessity to promote recycling. Japan's total waste generation declined recently to less than 400 million tons. The largest amount of waste is generated by the manufacturing industries. The proportion of total recycled waste is estimated to be slightly over 50%, but the proportions are greater than 90% for metal scrap and 60% for waste plastics. The amount of waste produced in the United States recently exceeded 265 million tons; 52.1% of the waste is landfilled, while only 25.1% is recycled. Therefore, the recycling industry has to be developed further.