• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.119-127
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• 1996

Electrum-sulfide minerals of the Namsan Au-Ag mine were deposited in two stages of quartz and calcite veins that fill fault planes in Mesozoic granitic rocks (230~155 Ma). The K/Ar radiometric dating of hydrothermal sericite indicates that mineralization is early Cretaceous age ($127{\pm}3.0Ma$). Mineralogic, fluid inclusion and sulfur isotopic data show that ore minerals were deposited at temperatures between $340^{\circ}C$ and $200^{\circ}C$ from fluid with salinities of 3 to 6 equiv. wt % NaCl. Evidence of fluid boiling (and $CO_2$ effervescence) indicates a maximum pressures of 100 bars. The formation temperature and $fs_2$, of Au-mineralization from the Namsan mines are mainly $280{\sim}230^{\circ}C$ and $10^{-11}{\sim}10^{-13}$ atm, respectively. Au deposition was likely a result of boiling caused to chemical change (pH, $f_{O2}$, ${\Sigma}_{H_2S{\cdot}{\cdot}}$) of ore-fluids. Sulfur isotope composition of sulfide minerals (${\delta}^{34}S=5.1$ to 8.2‰) are consistent with ${\delta}^{34}S_{{\Sigma}{H2S}}$ value of +6 to +7‰, suggesting an igneous source of sulfur partially mixed with wall-rock sulfur.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.1-10
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• 2015

FeS, as a natural reduced iron mineral, has been recognized to be a viable reactive material for As(III) sequestration in natural and engineered systems. In this study, FeS-coated sand packed columns were tested to evaluate the As(III) removal capacities under anaerobic conditions at pH 5, 7 and 9. The column obtained As(III) removal capacity was then compared with the capacity result obtained from batch reactors. In the comparison, two different approaches were used. The first approach was used the total As(III) removal capacity which method was proved to be useful for interpreting pH 5 system. The second approach was used to consider sorption non-linearity and proved to be useful for interpreting the pH 9. The results demonstrated that a mechanistic understanding of the different removal processes at different pH conditions is important to interpret the column experimental results. At pH 5, where the precipitation of arsenic sulfide plays the major role in the removal of arsenic, the column shows a greater removal efficiency than the batch system due to the continuous dissolution of sulfide and precipitation of arsenic sulfide. At pH 9, where adsorption mainly governs the arsenic removal, the sorption nonlinearity should be considered in the estimation of the column capacity. This study highlighted the importance of understanding reaction mechanism to predict column performance using batch-obtained experimental results.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.107-115
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• 2010

Removal and mineralization of dissolved uranium by bacteria in KURT (KAERI Underground Research Tunnel), Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) was investigated. Two different bacteria, IRB (iron-reducing bacteria) and SRB (sulfate-reducing bacteria) was used, and minerals formed by these bacteria were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Compared to uranyl ions, ferric ions were preferentially reduced by IRB, showing that there is no significant reduction and removal of uranium. However, uranium concentration considerably decreased by addition of Mn(II). Results show that a sulfide mineral such as mackinawite (FeS) is formed by SRB respiration through combination of Fe(II) and S without manganese sulfide formation. In the presence of Mn(II), however, uranium is removed effectively, suggesting that the sorption and incorporation of uranium could be affected by Mn(II) onto the sulide minerals.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.561-572
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• 2021

Aggregate collection is taking place in many areas in Korea, resulting in large cut slopes or large amounts of cut rocks. If the development site for such aggregate collection is a stratum accompanied by sulfide minerals, Acid Rock Drainage (ARD) may occur, which may cause environmental pollution in the development site and surrounding areas. As a result of the study on forest aggregate samples, most of the samples were classified as acid-forming potential samples, and among them, some samples from Gwangju, Goyang, and Sokcho were classified as potential acid-generating samples. This can be expected to affect the quality of aggregates when a large amount of aggregate is used in the future. Therefore, it is judged that these forest aggregates need to be managed when they are used. By predicting the occurrence of ARD through the acid-generating ability test, it is expected that economic losses that may occur in the future can be reduced, and it is judged that the problem of surrounding environmental pollution can be further alleviated.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.40 no.1 s.182
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• pp.29-45
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• 2007

Biogeochemical characteristics involving redox processes in groundwater from a riverine alluvial aquifer was investigated using multi-level monitoring wells (up to 30m in depth). Anaerobic conditions were predominant and high Fe ($14{\sim}37mg/L$) and Mn ($1{\sim}4mg/L$) concentrations were observed at 10 to 20 m in depth. Below 20 m depth, dissolved sulfide was detected. Presumably, these high Fe and Mn concentrations were derived from the reduction of Fe- and Mn-oxides because dissolved oxygen and nitrate were nearly absent and Fe and Mn contents were considerable in the sediments. The depth range of high Mn concentration is wider than that of high Fe concentration. Dissolved organics may be derived from the upper layers. Sulfate reduction is more active than Fe and Mn reduction below 20 m in depth. Disparity of calculated redox potential from the various redox couples indicates that redox states are in disequilibrium condition in groundwater. Carbonate minerals such as siderite and rhodochrosite may control the dissolved concentrations of Fe(II) and Mn(II), and iron sulfide minerals control for Fe(II) where sulfide is detected because these minerals are near saturation from the calculation of solubility equilibria.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.20 no.2 s.52
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• pp.115-124
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• 2007

Electrum-sulfide mineralization of the Youngbogari mine area occurred in two stages of massive quartz veins that fill the fractures along the fault/shear zones in the Precambrian gneiss. Ore mineralogy is simple, consisting of arsenopyrite $(31.4{\sim}33.4atom.%As)$, pyrite, sphalerite $(4.1{\sim}17.6mole%FeS)$, galena, chalcopyrite, argentite, and electrum. Electrum $(60.3{\sim}87.6atom.%Ag)$ is associated with galena, chalcopyrite and late sphalerite infilling the fractures in quartz and sulfides. Fluid inclusion data show that ore mineralization was formed from $H_2O-CO_2-CH_4-NaCl$ fluids $(X_{CO2+CH4}=0.0\;to\;0.2)$ with low salinities (0 to 10wt.% eq. NaCl) at temperatures between $200^{\circ}\;and\;370^{\circ}C$. Gold-silver mineralization occurred later than the base-metal sulfide deposition, at temperatures near $250^{\circ}C$ and was probably a result of cooling and decreasing sulfur fugacity caused by sulfide precipitation and/or $H_2S$ loss through fluid unmixing.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.421-429
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• 1993

Dissolution reactions of chemical grade zinc sulfide and natural sphalerite were studied in ferric chloride solution as an oxidant. To enhance the leaching reaction, ultrasonic technique was employed in this investigation. For the reaction with pure zinc sulfide, chemical reaction was the rate limiting step in the range of low conversion irrespective of applying ultrasonic wave. And the diffusion through liquid film instead of diffusion through product layer of free sulfur was the rate determining step because ultrasonic vibration removes the product from reaction zone. In the case of sphalerite with the ultrasonic vibrator, it was found that inert mineral layer diffusion was the rate determining step, in which the elemental sulfurs formed were removed by the ultrasonic action. Experimental results showed that the ultrasonic technique proved to be the methods which can significants improve the leaching performance.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.202-208
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• 2021

Induced polarization (IP) was first published in a Korean academic journal in 1973, and it was soon applied to coal and metal ore exploration. Then, in universities and research institutes, IP modeling studies using the finite element approach and experimental studies on IP responses for artificial samples were conducted. In the mid-1980s, the spectral IP (SIP) measurement module was introduced to Korea, and physical scale modeling and inversion approaches were developed. Due to the decline of the mineral resource industry, this method was not actively applied. However, the SIP method was not applied In the 1990s, IP exploration was applied in the investigation of hydrothermal deposits of sulfide minerals and bentonite mineralization zones, as well as to areas where the groundwater was contaminated by intruding seawater. In the 2000s, three-dimensional inversion of the IP approach was developed, and high-precision geophysical exploration was required to secure domestic and overseas mineral resources, so SIP experiments on rock samples and approaches for field exploration were developed. The SIP approach was proven useful for the exploration of metal deposits containing sulfide minerals by applying it to explore the mineralization zone of gold-silver deposits in the Haenam region. The IP method is considered to be effective in exploring critical minerals (lithium, cobalt, and nickel) in high-tech industries. It also is expected to be useful for environmental and geotechnical investigations.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.48-54
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• 2013

The methods to separate and remove copper in the mixed solution ((399 ppm Cu, 208 ppm Fe, 15.3 g/L Ni, 2.1 g/L Co) with nickel, cobalt and iron were investigated. With hydroxide precipitation method, copper and iron ions were completely precipitated and removed from the solution at pH 7 while some nickel and cobalt also were precipitated. 99.75% copper could be precipitated and removed as copper sulfide from the solution with adding $Na_2S$ (1.25 w/v concentration) of 2 times equivalent of Cu at pH 1. Copper was selectively absorbed on TP 207 ion exchange resin at equilibrium pH 2.0 and could be eluted from copper-loaded resin using 5% $H_2SO_4$.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.243-250
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• 2010

Froth flotation of complex copper ore from Indonesia Jambi mine has been carried out to produce high-grade Cu concentrate. Since the ore contained minor Cu sulfides in addition to major Cu carbonate (malachite), copper concentrate was recovered by two-stage process of flotation, which consisted of copper sulfide flotation using xanthate followed by copper oxide flotation using oleic acid. The copper sulfide concentrate of 57.5% Cu grade with 9.5% recovery was obtained by copper sulfide flotation under conditions of 300 g/t collector (1 : 1 mixture of xanthate series Aero Promoter 211 and Aero Promoter 242) and pH 6.0 pulp. In subsequent copper oxide flotation on sink products, the concentrate of 30.8% Cu grade with 92.1% recovery was obtained under the conditions of oleic acid 300 g/t, AF65 50 g/t, pH 8.0 and 2 times cleaning. The flotation techniques which can achieve a Cu grade of 36.1% and a recovery of 92.1% have been developed from the two-stage process of flotation.