• Proceedings of the KSEEG Conference
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• 2002.04a
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• pp.48-50
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• 2002

• 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.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.279-285
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• 2010

This study was conducted to evaluate the differences between the heavy metal contaminated and non-contaminated Artemisia princeps var. orientalis and Equisetum arvense in litter decomposition processes. The plant samples were collected from abandoned mine tailings and control sites in Cheongyang, South Korea. The abandoned mine tailings have high heavy metal concentration and low soil organic matter contents. The heavy metal contents of mine tailings were about 13 and 28 times higher in As and Cd, compared to those in control soils. Also, the contents of the Cr, Ni and Zn in mine tailings were about 3 to 6 times higher than those in control soil. Samples of two plant species from mine tailings have high heavy metal concentrations compared to those from control sites. The leaf of A. princeps var. orientalis and shoot of E. arvense collected from mine tailings have approximately 23 and 58 times more in As, and 25 and 11 times more in Cd. The mass loss rates of plant litter from mine tailings were slower than those from control sites. During the experimental period, the decomposition of A. princeps var. orientalis leaf from mine tailings and control site showed 50.4% and 65.7% mass loss on the control soil area, respectively. The decomposition of A princeps var. orientalis leaf from mine tailings and control site showed 31.6% and 57.5% mass loss on the mine tailings area, respectively. The decomposition of A. princeps var. orientalis stem from mine tailings and control site showed similar patterns with their leaf decomposition. The decomposition of E. arvense shoot from mine tailings and control site showed 77.8% and 89.3% mass loss on the control soil area, respectively. The decomposition of E. arvense shoot from mine tailings and control site showed 67.6% and 82.1% mass loss on the mine tailings area, respectively. Therefor, the higher contents of heavy metals showed slow decomposition. The results suggested that heavy metal contamination affected the plant litter decomposition processes.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.371-377
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• 1997

This paper presents the geophysical applications to the environmenml problem in an abandoned mine area. We would like to focus our attention on the mapping of the soil contamination and the detection of the buried mine tailings. For mapping the soil contamination. measurements of both in-situ magnetic susceptibility (k) and terrain conductivity were carried out. In-situ magnetic susceptibilities of the contaminated soil due to the acid mine drainage show higher values than those of the uncontaminated area. However. those data do not show the correlation with the degree of the soil contamination observed on the surface. The least-squares fitted formula obtained with the measured insitu magnetic susceptibilities is $k=4.8207{\times}W^{0.6332}$, where W is the $Fe^{+2}$ weight percentage. This weight gives most effect to magnetic susceptibility of the soil. Lateral variations of the soil contamination in the shallow subsurface can be detected by the electrical conductivity distributions from EM induction survey. TDIP (Time Domain Induced Polarization) and EM induction surveys were conducted to detect the buried mine tailings. From the results of TDIP, the spatial zone, which shows high chargeability-low resistivity, is interpreted as the buried mine tailings. Therefore, it is concluded that it is possible to discriminate the spatial zone from the uncontaminated ground.

• Journal of Korea Soil Environment Society
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.25-34
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• 1999

This geochemical study was carried out to find out the distribution of metals and cyanide in the soils around the Keum-Jung abandoned mine. Chemical analysis showed that extractable As contents in the soils near the mine exceeded 15mg/kg, Korean standard of soil contamination for farm land. The Results suggests that As contamination is due to input of tailings in the soils. According to total decomposition of tailings, As was highly concentrated in tailings. The water in a tailings impoundment was changed to acidic and contaminated by metals and sulfate which were released through oxidation of impoundment. Acid mine drainage from the tailings impoundment distribution channels directed to the paddy soils. The proper measures are required to prevent contamination of the soil and water in the vicinity of the Keum-Jung mine.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.781-792
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• 2020

Mine tailings, which are inevitably formed by the development of manganese nodules, manganese crusts, and hydrothermal seafloor deposits, have attracted attention because of their quantity and potential toxicity. However, there is a lack of data on the quantity of mine tailings being generated, their physicochemical properties, and their effects as environmental hazards and on marine ecosystems in general. The importance of treating mine tailings in an environmentally friendly manner has been recognized recently and related reduction/treatment methods are being considered. In the case of deep-sea mineral resource development, if mine tailings cannot be treated aboard a ship, the issue becomes one of the cost of transporting them to land and solving the problem of environmental pollution there. Therefore, the Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology conducted research on the harmfulness of mine tailings, their effect on marine ecosystem, the diffusion model of contaminated particles, and candidate purification treatment technologies based on five representative controlling factors: 1) effects of pollution /on the environment, 2) effects of environmental/ biological hazards, 3) diffusion of particles, 4) mineral dressings, and 5) reducing/processing mine tailings. The results of this study can provide a basis for minimizing environmental problems by providing scientific evidences of the environmental effects of mine tailings. In addition, it is also expected that these results could be applied to the treatment of pollutants of different origins and at land-based mining waste sites.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.269-270
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• 2005

• Proceedings of the KSEEG Conference
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• 2007.04a
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• pp.37-39
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• 2007

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• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.83-89
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• 2015

Soil samples collected in an area of Gahak Mine were investigated for the characterization of mineralogical and physicochemical properties of contaminants in soils. It is found that soils in the study area are contaminated by lead (Pb), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), cadmium (Cd), in which their concentrations are 595.3 mg/kg, 184.9 mg/kg, 712.8 mg/kg, and 10.64 mg/kg, respectively. All the concentrations exceed the concern criteria of Korean standard. Upon distribution patterns of metals identified by the sequential extraction procedure, our results show that more than 50% of metals are found as a residual type, and 30% are accounted for the association of Fe/Mn oxides. Interestingly, XRD results show that minium (Pb₃O₄) and cuprite (Cu₂O) are identified in the soil samples, suggesting that the sources of the contaminants for Pb and Cu are these minerals. In SEM images, tens of µm of Pb oxides and Pb silicate-minerals are observed. We, therefore, note that the contamination of metals in the study area results from the direct influx and disturbance of tailings. Our findings indicate that the characterization of physicochemical and mineralogical properties of contaminated soils is a critical factor and plays an important role in optimizing recovery treatments of soils contaminated in mine development areas.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.525-534
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• 2014

Environmental problems typically occurring in abandoned mine lands (AML) include: contaminated and acidic surface water and groundwater; stockpiled waste rock and mill tailings; and ground subsidences due to mining operations. This study examines the effectiveness of various geophysical techniques for mapping potential hazard and contaminated zones. Four AML sites with sedimentation contamination problems, acid mine drainage (AMD) channels, ground subsidence, manmade liner leakage, and buried mine tailings, were selected to examine the applicability of various geophysical methods to the identification of the different types of mine hazards. Geophysical results were correlated to borehole data (core samples, well logs, tomographic profiles, etc.) and water sample data (pH, electrical conductivity (EC), and heavy metal contents). Zones of low electrical resistivity (ER) corresponded to areas contaminated by heavy metals, especially contamination by Cu, Pb, and Zn. The main pathways of AMD leachate were successfully mapped using ER methods (low anomaly peaks), self-potential (SP) curves (negative peaks), and ground penetrating radar (GPR) at shallow penetration depths. Mine cavities were well located based on composite interpretations of ER, seismic tomography, and well-log records; mine cavity locations were also observed in drill core data and using borehole image processing systems (BIPS). Damaged zones in buried manmade liners (used to block descending leachate) were precisely detected by ER mapping, and buried rock waste and tailings piles were characterized by low-velocity zones in seismic refraction data and high-resistivity zones in the ER data.