• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.93-108
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• 2013

This study is aimed to prepare the effective detail survey methods(Phase II) of abandoned metal mines through the contamination assessment for mine types and facilities in the abandoned metal mine areas. The study sites of 12 abandoned mines are located in Gyeonggi-do and Gangwon-do and those were chosen among 310 sites that the Phase II survey was conducted from 2007 to 2009 after considering the results of Phase I for abandoned mines scattered all over the country. 12 study sites were classified into four types; Type I sites only have pit mouth. Type II sites have pit mouth and mine-waste field. Type III sites have pit mouth and tailing sorting field. Type IV sites have pit mouth, tailing sorting field and concentrator(s). In forest land, paddy soil and farm land of Type I, As and Cd were showed average concentration, and Cu and Pb were high on the pit mouth area in one mines where the pit mouth was developed within 500 m. In the mines of Type II, Cu and Pb were showed average concentration too, but As and Cd were slightly high in pit mouth and mine-waste field. The mines of Type III which had grinding particle process through physical separation milling or hitting showed similar tendency with Type II. However, mines of Type IV pit mouth, mine-waste field and showed various results depending on defining the contamination sources. For example, if contamination source was pit mouth, the mixed results of Type I, II, II were showed. In tailing sorting field which was regarded as the most important source and having high mobility, however, if there were no facilities or it was difficult to access directly, field sampling was missed occasionally during phase I and phase II survey. For that reason, the assessment for tailing sorting field is missed and it leads to completely different results. In the areas of Type I mines, the concentration of heavy metals exceeded precautionary standards of soil contamination or not within 1,000 meters of pit mouth. Nickel(Ni) was the largest factor of the heavy metal contamination in this type. The heavy metals except Arsenic(As) were shown high levels of concentration in Type II areas, where pit mouth and mine-waste field were operated for making powder in upriver region; therefore, to the areas in the vicinity of midstream and downstream, the high content of heavy metals were shown. The tendency of high level of heavy metals and toxic materials contained in flotation agent used during sorting process were found in soil around sorting and tailing field. In the abandoned-pit-mouth area, drygrinding area and tailing sorting field area, the content of Cupper(Cu) and Zinc(Zn) were higher than other areas. Also, the contaminated area were larger than mine reclamation area(2,000 m) and the location of tailing sorting field was one of the important factors to estimate contaminated area.

• 한국지구물리탐사학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.536-539
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• 2003

The Dongjung Au-Ag-Cu mine area was seriously contaminated with As and heavy metals-Cd, Cu, Hg, Mn, Pb and Zn etc. Those elements were highly accumulated in plants grown at farmland as well as farmland soil. Stream waters and groundwater which has been used as drinking water around the mine site contain high levels of heavy metals, especially As. As a result of human health risk assessment using EHS(Extraction of Heavy metals in Stomach and Small intestine) test for bioaccessible contents of heavy metals, there is a potential of cancer and adverse effects on human health for the residents of the mine area.

• CELLMED
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.3.1-3.4
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• 2016

Consumption of herbal products from the medicinal plants contaminated with heavy metals can cause serious consequences on human health. This is a major concern for traditional and herbal medicine. The present study was carried out to analyze and quantify the levels of six potentially toxic heavy metals namely arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury, chromium and nickel in ten important Indian medicinal herbs. The air dried raw herbs were processed by microwave assisted wet digestion and analyzed by using atomic absorption spectrophotometer equipped with graphite tube atomizer. Except the chromium content in three plants, all the levels of six heavy metals analyzed were found to be quite below the permissible limits in all the ten raw medicinal herbs analyzed. The present work implies that, regular and systematic screening of raw medicinal herbs is necessary to check the levels of the heavy metal contaminants before using them for consumption or preparation of herbal formulations so that the possible contamination cannot cumulate up to the finished products.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.13 no.1_2
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• pp.27-31
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• 1998

Motor vehicle exhaust is the major cause to the air contamination in Seoul. It includes many toxic chemicals to human health such as aidehyde, PAHs, benzene, xylene, toluene, benzo[a]pyrene, nickel, arsenic and cadmium in gasoline exhaust and formaldehyde, PAHs, 1,3-butadiene, benzene and particulate matter in diesel exhaust. Some chemicals out of them are classified as a human carcinogen. Many large diesel vehicles such as buses and trucks are drivened frequently in Seoul so that the air in Seoul is seriously contaminated by diesel exhaust, especially particulate matter. The amounts of particulate matter from large diesel vehicles may be estimated to be more than 50% of small dust in Seoul. The particles of particulate matter are coated with many toxic chemicals and some of these are considered as a human carcinogen. The cancer risk has to be throughly managed because the population density of Seoul is very high. Government should list hazardous air pollutants in Seoul, assess the exposure of people to toxic pollutants, especially carcinogens and manage human health risk.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.251-258
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• 2017

This study was conducted to identify transition characteristics of arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), and lead (Pb) and to calculate bio-concentration factors (BCF) in the three perennial root medicinal plants, namely Codonopsis lanceolata (Deoduck), Platycodon grandiflorum (Balloon flower) and Panax ginseng (Korean ginseng) grown in major medicinal plant producing districts in Korea. Average BCF values ranged from 0.009~0.029 in As, 0.334~1.453 in Cd, and 0.021~0.023 in Pb in three perennial root medicinal plants. The BCF values increased in the order of ginseng (0.029) > deodeok (0.012) > balloon flower (0.009) for As, balloon flower (1.453) > deodeok (0.685) > ginseng (0.334) for Cd, and ginseng (0.023) > deodeok (0.022) > balloon flower (0.021) for Pb. The BCF values calculated in this study will be useful for predicting the uptake of heavy metal (loid)s. Further study on uptake and accumulation mechanism of toxic metal (loid)s by agricultural products is required to assess the human health risk associated with soil contamination.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.1463-1474
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• 2008

In order to investigate stabilization effect and sustainability on As-contaminated farmland soils which were affected the abandoned mine site and stabilized by zerovalent iron(ZVI) and industrial by-products, batch-scale and pilot-scale tests were carried out. In batch tests, ZVI and industrial by-products(blast furnace slag, steel refining slag and oyster shell powder) were used in treatment materials to reduce the As leaching. Industrial by-products were mixed with As-contaminated soils, in the ratio of 1%, 3%, 5% and 7% on the weight base of dried soil. The results of batch-scale tests was shown that the reduction of As concentration was observed in all samples and it was expected that ZVI and steel refining slag were more effective than other treatment materials to stabilize As compounds. In pilot-scale tests, columns were filled with untreated soils and treated soils mixed with ZVI and steel refining slag in the same mixing ratio of 3%. Distilled water was discharged into the columns with the velocity of 0.3 pore volume/day. During the test, pH, EC, Eh and As concentration were measured in the regular term(1pore volume). after six months, pilot-scale tests were retested to investigate sustainability of treatment materials. As a result, It was shown that the leachate from control column was continuously released during the test period and its concentration was greater than $100ug{\cdot}L^{-1}$ which was exceeded the national regulation of water discharged to river or stream ($50ug{\cdot}L^{-1}$). On the other hand, soil treated with ZVI and steel refining slag showed that the concentrations of leachate were lower than national regulation of water discharged to river or stream. Therefore it was expected that ZVI and steel refining slag could be applied to the farmland site as the alternative treatment materials.

• 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.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.10-19
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• 2020

BACKGROUND: This study was to carry out risk assessment of contamination of cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), and inorganic arsenic (I-As) in agricultural products of 25 crops from the abandoned mine areas. The 36 typical investigation sites located in Gyeongbuk provincial area were selected by considering the heavy metal levels, that had been known that the amount of the heavy metals exceeded the contamination level based on the previous survey. METHODS AND RESULTS: Cadmium, lead, and total arsenic (T-As) concentrations were determined using microwave device and ICP-MS. Inorganic arsenic was determined by HPLC-ICP-MS. The limits of quantification for heavy metals were 0.59 ㎍/kg for Cd, 0.42 ㎍/kg for Pb, 0.55 ㎍/kg for T-As, and sum of As (III) (1.74 ㎍/kg) and As (V) (2.25 ㎍/kg) for I-As, respectively. The contents of Cd, Pb, and I-As (only rice) were N.D.-0.958 mg/kg, N.D.-0.227 mg/kg, and 0.082 mg/kg, respectively, in the agricultural products. For risk assessment, dietary exposures of heavy metals through usual intake were 5.20×10^-4-7.15×10⁰ ㎍/day for Cd, 7.00×10^-5-7.75×10^-1 ㎍/day for Pb, and 1.17×10¹ ㎍/day for I-As, taking 0.01-14.37%, 0.01-2.05%, and 15.16% as risk indices, respectively. CONCLUSION: It requires to consider the critical levels of heavy metals in agricultural products due to unexpectedly high levels in a few places, while concentrations of heavy metals in the samples were relatively low in most areas.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.248-256
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• 2021

A total of 120 samples corresponding to 12 categories of dried processed fishery products distributed in Gyeonggi-do were examined for radioactivity contamination (¹³¹I, ¹³⁴Cs, ¹³⁷Cs) and heavy metals (lead, cadmium, arsenic, and mercury). One natural radioactive material, ⁴⁰K, was detected in all products, while the artificial radioactive materials ¹³¹I, ¹³⁴Cs and ¹³⁷Cs were not detected at above MDA (minimum detectable activity) values. The detection ranges of heavy metals converted by biological basis were found as follows: Pb (N.D.-0.332 mg/kg), Cd (N.D.-2.941 mg/kg), As (0.371-15.007 mg/kg), Hg (0.0005-0.0621 mg/kg). Heavy metals were detected within standard levels when there was an acceptable standard, but the arsenic content was high in most products, although none of the products had a permitted level of arsenic. In the case of dried processed fishery products, there are products that are consumed by restoring moisture to its original state, but there are also many products that are consumed directly in the dry state, so it will be necessary to set permitted levels for heavy metals considering this situation in the future. In addition, Japan has decided to release contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean, so there is high public concern about radioactivity contamination of food, including fishery products. Therefore, continuous monitoring of various food items will be necessary to ease consumers' anxiety.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.359-370
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• 2009

Arsenic and heavy metals leached out as a result of oxidation of tailings exposed to the surface pose a serious environmental contamination of mine areas. This study investigated how arsenic behavior is controlled by a variety of processes, such as oxidation of sulfides and formation or alteration of secondary minerals, based on mineralogical methods. The study was carried out using the tailing samples obtained from Nakdong mine located in Jeongseongun, Gangwondo. After separating magnetic and non-magnetic minerals using pretreated tailing samples, each mineral sample was classified according to their colors and metallic lusters observed by the stereoscopic microscope. Subsequently, the mineralogical properties were determined using various instrumental analyses, such as x-ray diffractometer (XRD), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and electron probe micro analyzer (EPMA). The literature review confirmed that various ore minerals were identified in the Nakdong ore deposits. In this study, however, there were observed a few original ore minerals as well as secondary and/or tertiary minerals newly formed as a result of weathering including oxidation. In particular, we did not recognize pyrrhotite which has been known to originally exist in a large abundance, but peculiarly colloform-type iron (oxy)hydroxides were identified, which indicates most of pyrrhotite has been altered by rapid weathering due to its large reactivity. In addition, a secondary scorodites filling the fissure of weathered primary arsenopyrites were identified, and it is speculated that arsenic is immobilized through such a alteration reaction. Also, we observed tertiary iron (oxy)hydroxides were formed as a result of re-alteration of secondary jarosites, and it suggests that the environment of tailing has been changed to high pH from low pH condition which was initiated and developed by oxidation reactions of diverse primary ore minerals. The environmental change is mainly attributed to interactions between secondary minerals and parental rocks around the mine. As a result, not only was the stability of secondary minerals declined, but tertiary minerals were newly formed. As such a process goes through, arsenic which was immobilized is likely to re-dissolve and disperse into surrounding environments.