• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• v.2
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• pp.721-724
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• 2006

Among many sources of soil and water pollution, former mining regions also play an important role in distribution and scope of pollution. In response, KMRC has made an investigation into the status mine hazard at the abandoned metalliferous mine area in Korea. In this study, we analyzed distribution of mine hazards at abandoned metalliferous mines using GIS. We considered the distribution of mine hazards and its magnitude for each abandoned mine and displayed the mine hazard index (MHI) using GIS. We divided the MHI value for each mine into 5 classes, and displayed the first class as smallest point symbol and the last class as biggest point symbol. The biggest symbol shows the most serious status of mine hazards. This GIS function was included in the AMGIS system KMRS are running, and it would be helpful to make decision of reclamation priority at abandoned metalliferous mine area.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Mineral and Energy Resources Engineers
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.564-575
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• 2018

Recently, the possibility of promoting inter-Korean economic cooperation is increasing because the tension between South and North Korea is being reduced. Consequently, the interest in North Korea's mine development projects is growing as one of the aspects of inter-Korean economic cooperation. In the promotion of cooperation in mining development, mine hazard risk management should be considered. However, there is a lack of information pertaining to mine hazards in North Korea. To this end, this study was performed to determine the status of mining-related hazards in 12 mines in North Korea by using the image analysis feature of Google Earth. From the results obtained, we observed some mining-related hazards such as tailing dam failures, yellow boy phenomenon, and land subsidence.

• 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.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.33-40
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• 2008

Levels of arsenic in stream and reservoir waters affected by an abandoned gold mine were examined. The abandoned mine has been left without proper civil and remedial works preventing potential environmental hazards. Field and laboratory chemical analyses revealed that the stream waters downgradient from the mine area were severely contaminated with arsenic and furthermore the reservoir water, 2-3 km away from the mine, also contained substantial levels of As, far exceeding the Korean stream water standard. Relatively higher pH values (6.5-9.4) enhanced mobility of As and mainly sustained substantial As concentration in waters. Chemistries of the stream water, groundwater and reservoir water were dominated by two main factors including effects of mine effluent and anthropogenic agricultural activities. Considering that there has been a substantial As input to the reservoir and the reservoir water has been used for agricultural and domestic uses, immediate remedial works are essentially required.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.30-37
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• 2019

Some leading countries in mining have a very quantitative guideline for underground mine opening design which is useful to minimize mine hazards such as rockfall and collapse. Those hazards sometimes can cause a huge damage on human life and property in the mines. Construction guidelines of underground mines in Korea consist of qualitative and general expressions although the workers' safety rules and guides are well provided. Recently, mining operations in Korea are going underground due to the environmental regulations and resource depletion at shallow depth, and therefore there is a growing demand on a specialized and systematic guideline for mine opening design securing the underground stability. In this paper, current status of mining industry, research trends, and mining guidelines in Korea and overseas have been reviewed to give an insight into developing a new Korean guideline for underground mine design.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• 2007.10a
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• pp.95-97
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• 2007

The mining-related damages due to the mining operations such as ground subsidence, tailing, Acid Mine Drainage, and soil contamination have a significant effect on our social and economical environment. So, for the effective prevention and reclamation works of the hazards in the mining area, the systematic management of mine information and mining-related damages is urgently needed. In this study, we estimated the possibilities of GIS-based system development for the mining area and related database. We classified the steps of building GIS as mine itself, mining-related damages, rehabilitation works and additional functions for estimating damages and analyzed the essential database and functions for each step. GIS will be helpful to estimate the mining-related damages and to carry out the reclamation works effectively.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.73-77
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• 2022

Background: Whole-body vibration (WBV) exposure of coal mine dumper operators poses numerous health hazards. The case-control study was aimed at assessing the relative musculoskeletal health risk of dumper operators' exposure to WBV with reference to the nonexposed group. Methods: Measurements of WBV exposure were taken at the operator-seat interface using a human vibration analyzer for 110 dumper operators in three coal mines. This vibration measurement was supplemented by a questionnaire survey of 110 dumper operators exposed to WBV and an equal number of workers not exposed to WBV. The relative risk of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) has been assessed through the case-control study design. Results: ISO guidelines were used to compare the health risk. It was observed that the prevalence of pain in the lower back was 2.52 times more in the case group compared to the control group. The case group of Mine-2 was 2.0 times more prone to vibration hazards as compared to Mine-3. Conclusion: The case group is more vulnerable to MSDs than the control group. The on-site measurement as well as the response of the dumper operators during the questionnaire survey corroborates this finding.

• 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.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.365-374
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• 2022

Mining activity causes environmental pollution and geological hazards such as ground subsidence or landslide of which continuous monitoring is necessary. In this study, the activity on the Fushun West Open-Pit Mine (FWOPM), one of the largest open-pit coal mines in Asia located in Fushun, Liaoning Province, China, was analyzed by using a time-series Sentinel-1 InSAR coherence dataset. By using the difference between the two Digital Elevation Models (DEM) of the area, it was possible to confirm that there was a stockpiling activity in the western area of the FWOPM while excavation activity in the eastern area. By using RGB composite images using the yearly-averaged InSAR coherence images, the activity of the mine was confirmed by period, which was confirmed by Google Earth optical images. As a result, it was possible to confirm three landslides and the related activities on the northwest slope and the dumping activity on the west slope of FWOPM.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.463-475
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• 2022

In the mine exploitation stage; one of the critical issues is the stability assessment of post-pillars. The instability of post-pillars leads to serious safety hazards in mining operations. The focus of this study is to assess the stability of post-pillars in the 130# stope in the central ore body at Trepça hard rock mine by employing both conventional (i.e., critical span curve) and numerical methods (i.e., FLAC3D). Moreover, a new numerical based index (i.e., Pillar Yield Ratio-PYR) was proposed. The aim of PYR index is to determine a border line between stable, potentially unstable, and failure state of post-pillars at a specific mine site. The critical value of pillar width to height ratio is 2.5 for deep production stopes (e.g., > 800 m). Results showed that pillar size, mining height and mining depth significantly have affected the post-pillar stability. The reliability of numerical based index (i.e., PYR) is verified based on empirical underground pillar stability graph developed by Lunder, 1994. The proposed pillar yield ratio index and pillar stability graph can be used as a design tool in new mining areas at Trepça hard rock mine and for other situations with similar geotechnical conditions.