• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 1998

Copper mineralization of the Donghwa and Hwanghagsan mines was deposited in hydrothermal quartz veins which filled fissures in Cretacous sedimentary rocks. Ore minerals are pyrite, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, bornite, galena, wittichenite and unidentified Cu-Bi-Pb-Sb-S mineral. On the basis of salinities and homogenization temperatures for fluid inclusions, the Donghwa deposit was deposited from $300^{\circ}C$ to $220^{\circ}C$ with 2.5 to 0.2 wt.% eq. NaCl, and the Hwanghagsan deposits was deposited from $300^{\circ}C$ to $160^{\circ}C$ with 4.0 to 0.0 wt.% eq. NaCl. Evidence of boiling suggests pressure of 170 to 60 bar, these pressures correspond to 1700 m to 600 m. The ${\delta}^{34}S_{H_2S}$ values of the Donghwa deposit (4.8~7.4%) are higher than those of the Hwanghagsan deposit (3.5~4.5%), sulfur isotope compositions indicate that ore fluids partially reacted with meteoric water and wall-rock. Equilibrium thermodynamic interpretation indicates that the temperature versus $fs_2$ of the Donghwa deposit (> $420^{\circ}C$, $10^{-3.2}atm$) is higher condition than that of the Hwanghagsan deposit (> $290^{\circ}C$, $10^{-7.0}atm$). K-Ar ages for biotite granite and quartz porphyry in the study area are 64.7 Ma, and 60.9 Ma, reapectively. Mineralization age using sericite in the Donghwa deposits is 59.8 Ma. Therfore, Copper mineralization in the study area was associated with acidic igneous activity such as biotite granite or quartz porphyry.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.193-199
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• 2016

Constancia mine is a deposit developed within Andahuaylas-Yauri Cu-Mo-Au metallogenic belt, southeastern Peru and is located in the southwestern part of Abancay deformation zone structurally as the porphyry copper deposit type. Mineralized zone in Constancia mine are composed of leached zone, secondary enrichment zone(ca. 1% Cu), mixed zone, primary mineralized zone(ca. 0.5%), skarn zone(ca. 1.5% Cu) from the upper part. Main country rock is monzonitic porphyry. Leached zone are characterized by the precipitation of limonite and looks brown in the outcrop. Oxidized zone have green due to the occurrence of copper oxide and secondary enrichment zone are characterized by the occurrence of chalcocite. Skarn zone are characterized by the occurrence of magnetite and garnet. Now, Hudbay, Canadian mining company, have 100% share about Constancia mine and started to produce commercially from January, 2015.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.391-397
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• 2014

Acid mine drainage occurrence is a serious environmental problem by mining industry; it usually contain high levels of metal ions, such as iron, copper, zinc, aluminum, and manganese, as well as metalloids of which arsenic is generally of greatest concern. It causes mine impacted soil pollution with mining and smelting activities, fossil fuel combustion, and waste disposal. In the present study, three bacterial strains capable of producing urease were isolated by selective enrichment of heavy metal contaminated soils from a minei-mpacted area. All isolated bacterial strains were identified Sporosarcina pasteurii with more than 98% of similarity, therefore they were named Sporosarcina sp. KM-01, KM-07, and KM-12. The heavy metals detected from the collected mine soils containing bacterial isolates as Mn ($170.50mg\;kg^{-1}$), As ($114.05mg\;kg^{-1}$), Zn ($92.07mg\;kg^{-1}$), Cu ($62.44mg\;kg^{-1}$), and Pb ($40.29mg\;kg^{-1}$). The KM-01, KM-07, and KM-12 strains were shown to be able to precipitate calcium carbonate using urea as a energy source that was amended with calcium chloride. SEM-EDS analyses showed that calcium carbonate was successfully produced and increased with time. To confirm the calcium carbonate precipitation ability, urease activity and precipitate weight were also measured and compared. These results demonstrate that all isolated bacterial strains could potentially be used in the bioremediation of acidic soil contaminated by heavy metals by mining activity.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.167-176
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• 2009

Cobalt-rich manganese crusts on seamounts have received an increasing amount of attention as future resources for Co, Ni, Cu, and Mn. A dearth of detailed information regarding the relevant distribution characteristics, mining technologies, and ore processing technologies, however, has precluded potential evaluations of the technical and economic advantages of these crusts. In the past 4 years, Korea has undertaken a survey of the cobalt-rich manganese crusts in and around the Magellan Seamount and Mid-Pacific Mountains. This paper introduces the preliminary feasibility study of the distribution features and R&D results centered around the development of the cobalt-rich manganese crusts. The evaluation model was developed by modifying the model for the manganese nodules. In addition to considering the geological and geophysical differences between the manganese nodules and the cobalt-rich manganese crusts, an ore dressing subsystem was installed in the model. The mining subsystem is composed of a self-propelled collector--a pipeline with submersible hydraulic pumps for crust lifting. The smelting and chlorine leach method was selected for metallurgical processing. The production scales were established at 2,500t/y of cobalt metal. The production of three metals--cobalt, nickel, and copper--was considered in terms of metallurgical processing. The economic feasibility analyses demonstrated that the payback period was 11.4 years, the NPV was 36M$, and the IRR was 9.6% with the economic factors in the case of a cobalt price of US$ 25/lb. It was also demonstrated in this study that the payback period was 8.6 years, the NPV was 154M$, and the IRR was 14.0% in the case of a cobalt price of US$ 30/lb. This indicates that the approach under consideration appears to offer greater potential given the predicted metal prices.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.191-198
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• 2014

Absorption and accumulation of heavy metals in plants were determined by phytoavailable contents rather than total contents of heavy metals. Therefore, phytoavailability-based management protocol should be prepared for safe food crop production in contaminated agricultural lands. This study was conducted to understand the distribution and phytoavailability of heavy metal in the Korean agricultural soils affected by abandoned mining sites along with investigation of soil properties (soil pH, OM, DOC, clay content, Al/Fe/Mn content) influencing on the metal phytoavailability. For this, 142 agricultural soils located nearby 39 abandoned mining sites distributed in five province in Korea, were analyzed. Among the four different heavy metals, cadmium (Cd) and zinc (Zn) appeared to exist in more phytoavailable form than cupper (Cu) and lead (Pb). Soil pH was the main factor governing phytoavailable Cd, Pb, and Zn showing positive relationship with partitioning coefficients of the corresponding metals; Cd (r = 0.66, P < 0.001), Pb (r = 0.70, P < 0.001), and Zn (r = 0.62, P < 0.001). This implied higher phytoavailability of the corresponding metals with higher soil pH. In contrast, phytoavailability of Cu (r = 0.41, p < 0.01) was only negatively related with soil DOC (dissolved organic carbon).

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.1634-1647
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• 2007

"To invest or not to invest?" Most business leaders are frequently faced with this question on new and ongoing projects. The challenge lies in deciding what projects to choose, expand, contract, defer, or abandon. The project valuation tools used in this process are vital to making the right decisions. Traditional tools such as discounted cash flow (DCF)/net present value (NPV) assume a "fixed" path ahead, but real world projects face uncertainties, forcing us to change the path often. Comparing to other traditional valuation methods, the real options approach captures the flexibility inherent to investment decisions. The use of real options has gained wide acceptance among practitioners in a number of several industries during the last few decades. Even though the options are present in all types of business decisions, it is still not considered as a proper method of valuation in some industries. Mining has been comparably slow to adopt new valuation techniques over the years. The reason fur this is not entirely clear. One possible reason is the level and types of risks in mining. Not only are these risks high, but they are also more numerous and involve natural risks compared with other industries. That is why the purpose of this study is to deal with a more practical approach to project valuation, known as real options analysis in mining industry. This paper provides a case study approach to the copper mining industry using a real options analysis. It shows how companies can minimize investment risks, exercise flexibility in decision making and maximize returns.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.89-91
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• 1998

The magnetisation behaviour of polycrystalline permalloy/copper multilayers with mixed antiferromagnetic/ferromagnetic coupling was investigated as function of temperature. The results are discussed in a framework of a realistic model of anitferromagnetically coupled layers connected by ferromagnetic pinholes. A microstructure of pinholes (their density and dimensions) was varied either by a proper annealing treatment or by choosing samples with various Cu spacer thicknesses. It was demonstrated that the temperature changes of the net magnetic moment measured in a magnetic field smaller than the saturation field was strongly affected by the composition of the pinholes, their density, cross-sectional area and their lengths.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.33-37
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• 1967

The influence of impurities contained in Marmatite ores on leaching of zinc was investigated. The zinc sulfide having the same crystal structure of natural Sphalerite was prepared by heating the zinc sulfide chemically precipitated, at $650^{\circ}C$ in nitrogen atmosphere. The activation energy of the sample was 25.8 kcal per mole in the leach test when oxygen partial pressure was 5 atm. and the value was exceedingly high compared to that obtained in Marmatite ores. Synthetic zinc sulfides added with small amount of each impurities were treated in same procedure. As a result, it was found that the leaching velocity was accelerated sharply when about 1 percent of $Cu^{++}$ was blended to the sample. Larger amount of iron has also same effect but the effect was minor compared to the copper. The other impurities indicated no appreciable catalytic action.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.271-281
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• 2001

The characteristics of the heavy metal contamination in the soils affected by the tailings of the Palbong mine have been studied. The soils in the studied area consist mostly of loam by the particle size analysis, but a little of it, located near the stream, consist of loamy sand to sandy loam, finally to loam downward. The organic contents of soils are significantly low aoom 2 percent and the pH is in acidic ranging 6.0 $\pm$ 0.1. The samples of the parent rocks, the normal soils, the tailings and the channel deposits from the studied area were chemically analysed. From the result, the heavy metal concenlration of the soils is a little Jow compared with that of the parent rocks, shows the hydrologic process of the surface and the groundwater. The contamination of the tailings from the ore mining are high in lead, copper and arsenic. In the channel deposits the concenlrations of lead and copper are abnormally high but that of arsenic is uniquely low. And most of heavy metal contamination are decreased with the distance from the mine. It is caused by the properties of the surface and the ground water during the process of the heavy metal migration. The correlation-coefficient between sand and silt contents and the concentrations of Cd, Cu and Pb are significant but the amounts of As and Hg are increased with the clay contents. The dispersion of the heavy metals with the distance shows that the concentrations of them in the soils sampled at distance of 100 m to 200 m along the stream started near the Palbong mine are extremely high compared with those from other distances. These discrepancies are significant in Cd, Cu, Pb and Hg, but low in As. All the samples contain below detection limit of Cr+6 In the present stream water the concentrations of the heavy metals are not detected. So, it is interpreted that the concentrations in the soils are caused by the activities of the mining during the operation and have been continued by the dispersion from the tailings since after the closure of the mining, especially by the surface and ground water. The concentrations are diminished with the distance from the mining site, but in the interval of 800-2000 m increases abruptly. In the soil samples counted on the dispersion direction by wind, the lowering of the concentration is relatively uniform with the distance from the mining site. So, the rapid increase of the heavy metal concentrations is presumed to have been caused by the ground-water movement. In the migration of the heavy metals, the groundwater conditions, such as pH, Eh, the contents of colloidal particles, and Mn and Fe oxides are closely involveo. Integrating with these factors, it is interpreted that the groundwater conditions which have caused the heavy metal contamination of the studied area are those that the pH is about 3 in oxidized conditions, the contents of the colloidal particles are low, and Mn and Fe oxides are not involved in the migration of the heavy metals. Meanwhile, the vegetables growing on the soils in the studied area are not affected by the contamination of the heavy metals.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.311-325
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• 1993

The Ohto and Tohyun copper mine which are located 4 km southeast of Euiseong, Gyeongsangbukdo, Republic of Korea show various common geologic and mineralogic features. Both copper deposits are of hydrothermal-vein types, and associated with fracture system developed during formation of the Geumseong-san caldera in late Cretaceous age. According to structures and mineral assemblages, the mineralization processes have progressed in four stages: three hypogene mineralization stages and one supergene stage. Three hypogene stages are 1) stage I forming $N5{\sim}20^{\circ}E$ veins in the Ohto mine, 2) stage II building $N5^{\circ}W{\sim}N5^{\circ}E$ veins in the Tohyun mine, and 3) stage ill bringing $N80^{\circ}E$ veins which crosscut veins of the stage II. The vein ores consist mainly of pyrite, arsenopyrite, galena and chalcopyrite, minor or trace amounts of magnetite, hematite, pyrrhotite, stannite, bournonite, boulangerite, stibnite, galenobismutite, native bismuth, marcasite, geothite and malachite. The main gangue minerals are quartz and calcite. Wallrock is altered by sericitization, chloritization, pyritization, carbonitization and argillization. Arsenic and copper contents in arsenopyrite increase from stage I to stage III (from 31.28 to 33043 atom.% As) and (from 0.04 to 0040 atom.% Co). Going from stage I to stage III Fe and Mn contents in sphalerite decreases from 12.56 to 0.44 wt.% and from 0.24 to 0.01 wt.%, respectively. The compositional data of arsenopyrite in the early stage I indicate a temperature of $420{\sim}365^{\circ}C$ and sulfur fugacity of $10^{-6.5}{\sim}10^{-8.3}$ atm. Chalcopyrite and pyrrhotite assemblage suggest that Middle stage I was deposited at below $334^{\circ}C$. The compositional data of arsenopyrite in early stage II suggest a temperature range of $425{\sim}390^{\circ}C$ and sulfur fugacity codition of $10^{-6.4}{\sim}10^{-7.3}$ atm. Based on fluid inclusion the Middle stage II was regarded as to be deposited at $420{\sim}337^{\circ}C$ (Chi et al., 1989). Referring composition of sphalerite and stannite middle-late stage II seem to be deposited around $246^{\circ}C$ and $10^{-16.5}$ atm. sulfur fugacity. The ${\delta}^{34}S$ values of sulfide minerals in the Stage I, II, III range from 4.9 to 7.6%0 and indicate igneous ore fluid origin. Based on differences in mineral assemblages, chemical composition and chemical environments of Ohto and Tohyun mine its mineralization are considered to be formed at diffent mineralization ages and by different ore fluids.