• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.21 no.9
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• pp.502-508
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• 2011

The goal of the present work was to investigate the development of a geopolymeric ceramic material from a mixture of mine residue, coal fly ash, blast furnace slag, and alkali activator solution by the geopolymer technique. The results showed that the higher compressive strength of geopolymeric ceramic material increased with an increase in active filler (blast furnace slag + coal fly ash) contents and with a reduction of mine residue contents. The geopolymeric ceramic had very high early age strength. The compressive strength of the geopolymeric ceramic depended on the added active filler content. The maximum compressive strength of the geopolymeric ceramic containing 20 wt.% mine residue was 141.2 MPa. The compressive strength of geopolymeric ceramic manufactured by adding mine residue was higher than that of portland cement mortar, which is 60 MPa, when cured for 28 days. SEM observation showed the possibility of having amorphous aluminosilicate gel within geopolymeric ceramic. XRD patterns indicate that the geopolymeric ceramic was composed of amorphous aluminosilicate, calcite, quartz, and muscovite. The Korea Standard Leaching Test (KSLT) was used to determine the leaching potential of the geopolymeric ceramic. The amounts of heavy metals were noticeably reduced after the solidification of mine residue with active filler.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.19-26
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• 2004

In order to use the mine tailing which was generated in the flotation process of scheelite ore into the raw material of ordinary portland cement, the characteristics of the prepared cement clinker was investigated. Scheelite mine tailing is composed of 68.8% of $SiO_2$, 8.6% of $Al_2$$O_3$, 10.8% of $Fe_2$$O_3$, 5.0% of CaO, respectively. It exists as $\alpha$-quartz, muscovite, clinochlore and has 8.0% of 88 $\mu\textrm{m}$ residue. When LSF, SM, and IM of the raw materials (such as limestone, convertor slag, fly ash, and mine tailing) are 91.0, 2.60, and 1.60, respectively, the burnability index of the raw materials is 50.7, the crystal size of $C_3$S and $\beta$-C$_2$S in the prepared clinker is 15∼35$\mu\textrm{m}$, and about 3.8% of scheelite mine tailing can be used as raw material.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.61-66
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• 2015

Cyanidation has been used worldwide to recover gold from primary ore or concentrate. The use of cyanide is however becoming an emerging issue because of the toxic residue and wastewater made from the process. The cyanide-containing wastewater should be treated properly, obeying the environmental standard and regulations. In the present article, the domestic and international uses, regulations, and treatment technologies of cyanide in gold mining were investigated as a feasibility study to develop a cyanide treatment process as well as the cyanidation process. A biological cyanide treatment process to develop a zeroemission gold recovery and wastewater treatment process was also briefly introduced.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.1-9
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• 2012

As topographic characteristics of Korea where 64 % of the national land area is forest and only 17 % is being used as farmland, remediation of farmland contaminated by heavy metals is a considerably important issue. In this study, as an alternative of practically and effectively remediating farmland which was abandoned as its crop plants exceeded maximum residue limit of heavy metals due to mining impact, applicability of stabilization method was examined through the pilot-scale field experiment. Three plots ($L{\times}W{\times}D=3m{\times}2m{\times}0.3m$) were installed at the selected farmland and in plot 1, only soil of the selected farmland was applied, in pilot 2, soil of the selected farmland plus 3 % limestone (w/w) was applied and in pilot 3, soil of the selected farmland plus 3 % limestone was applied and then uncontaminated soil was covered thereon (0.3 m). After that, seeds of radish, Korean cabbage and soybean of which characteristics of edible portions are different were sowed on each plot and cultivated. Afterwards, at a proper harvesting time (app. 80 days later), crop plants and soil were collected and phytoavailability (0.11 M HOAc extractable) of heavy metals in soil and accumulated concentration of heavy metal in edible portion of crop plants were examined. As a result, it was revealed that phytoavailability of heavy metals in soil added with limestone (plot 2) was clearly reduced compared with plot 1 (untreated) and owing to this treatment, accumulated concentration of heavy metals in edible portion of crops was also clearly reduced compared with plot 1. While radish cultivated in plot 1 had exceeded maximum residue limit of agricultural products, in particular, plot 2 using limestone had shown concentration lower than maximum residue limit and this plot had shown little difference with 3 plot where crop was cultivated in uncontaminated soil cover. Therefore, it was considered that for abandoned farmland like the selected farmland, reducing mobility and phytoavailability of heavy metals and reducing crop uptake through stabilization method would be an effective and practical alternative for producing safe agricultural products on a sustained basis.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2013

This study was carried out to test the possibility of using an environmentally friendly method of leaching silver concentrate from the Samjo mine. The Samjo mine ore contained minerals such as pyrite, chalcopyrite, galena, arsenopyrite, and sphalerite. The concentrate samples tested with the thiourea solution were roasted at $750^{\circ}C$. The results of different experimental conditions showed that the highest silver leaching rate was obtained when the concentration of thiourea was at 0.8 g with ferric sulfate at 0.425 g and the leaching temperature at $60^{\circ}C$. The Ag leaching rate obtained was 91.5% at a pulp density of 10%. However, in the XRD analysis, peaks of pyrite, galena, and hematite were still found in the leached solid residues in which the Ag leaching rate was the highest. it is expected that the unrecovered silver in the solid residue can be lost.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.9-15
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• 2010

Domestic gold mine tailings, generally, contain a lot of non-metallic silica and clay minerals. These minerals can be separated from the tailings by various physical separation methods and used as raw materials for cements and ceramic products. In these physical separation procedures, metallic complex sulfides, in which Au and metallic constituents such as Pb, As and Fe were concentrated, were obtained as a by-product. These metallic constituents should be removed or separated from the by-product to extract Au efficiently. In this work, removal and separation processes of Pb, As, and Fe from the by-product were investigated. Pb was removed to under 3% by using alkaline oxidative leaching at the leaching condition of $120^{\circ}C$, 2M NaOH, 100psi $Po_2$, 250r.p.m., 4 wt.% solid and 30 min. leaching time. The leached residue was roasted and separated magnetically to obtain a non-magnetic product contained <0.2% As, <3% Fe and high concentrated Au more than 8,000 ppm.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.432-438
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• 1996

This study was carried out to prepare information for the establishment of countermeasures for an area contaminated with minewaste from an old zinc mine at Kahak-long in Kwangmyong. Minewaste and bottom sediments from the streams in this area were sampled and were analyzed for Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn extracted with different solution. Total heavy metal contents in both minewaste and bottom sediments were fairly high. Cadmium and Zn contents in the minewaste and Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn contents in the bottom sediments extracted with 0.1 N HCl showed a much higher level than those in the background level of paddy soils and in the soils around the other metal mines regardless of the distance from the mine. Sulfide/residue forms of Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn covered the highest portions for the minewaste. For bottom sediments, sulfide/residue forms of Cu and Zn formed the highest portions, whereas the contents of both carbonate and sulfide/residue forms of Cd and Pb were significant. The lower the pH of the extracting solutions, the more heavy metals extracted from both minewaste and bottom sediments.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.329-339
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• 2016

The short-term effects of low-level contamination by heavy metals (As, Cd, Cu, and Pb) on the soil health were examined by analyzing soil nematode community in soils planted with tomatoes. For this, the soils were irrigated with five metal concentrations ([1, 1/4, $1/4^2$, $1/4^3$, and 0] ${\times}$ maximum concentrations [MC] detected in irrigation waters near abandoned mine sites) for 18 weeks. Heavy metal concentrations were significantly increased in soils irrigated with MC of heavy metals, among which As and Cu exceeded the maximum heavy metal residue contents of soil approved in Korea. In no heavy metal treatment controls, nematode abundances for all trophic groups (except omnivorous-predatory nematodes [OP]) and colonizer-persister (cp) values (except cp-4-5) were significantly increased, and all maturity indices (except maturity index [MI] of plant-parasitic nematodes) and structure index (SI) were significantly decreased, suggesting the soil environments might have been disturbed during 18 weeks of tomato growth. There were no concentration-dependent significant decreases in richness, abundance, or MI for most heavy metals; however, their significant decreases occurred in abundance and richness of OP and cp-4, MI2-5 (excluding cp-1) and SI, indicating disturbed soil ecosystems, at the higher concentrations (MC and MC/4) of Pb that had the most significant negative correlation coefficients for heavy metal concentrations and nematode community among the heavy metals. Therefore, the short-term effects of low-level heavy metal contamination on soil health can be analyzed by nematode community structures before the appearance of plant damages caused by the abiotic agents, heavy metals.

• Korean Journal of Mineralogy and Petrology
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.41-51
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to investigate the possibility of eco-friendly/efficient recovery of valuable resources, such as Au from mine tailings, which are environmental pollutants in the Mongolian mine sector. For this purpose, this study selected 4 place of mine tailings of the Mongolian mines sector and carried out mineralogy evaluation of the valuable resources in the tailings. In this study, flotation was performed to separate and concentrate valuable resources in the tailings. Microwave nitric acid leaching was used to leach the valuable resources contained in the sample and to improve the Au grade. Chloride leaching attempted to leach Au from the leaching residues. XRD analysis of the tailings samples showed that most of the samples consisted of silicate minerals. As a result of confirming the content of the element through XRF analysis, the SiO₂ content was very high, the Fe₂O₃ content was 2.32-4.23%, and the content of PbO, CuO and ZnO components were all within 2%. As a result of flotation for the tailings samples, the recovery of Au was the highest in Bayanairag sample (95.38%). As a result of microwave nitric solution experiment on Au concentrate sample obtained by flotation, the content of Au in the microwave nitrate leaching residue increased by 12.15% from 192.72 g/ton to 216.14g/ton in Khamo sample, the highest increase was 57.58% in Bayanairag sample. TCLP tests on tailings generated after flotation showed dissolution characteristics within EPA. Chloride leaching test was performed to recover Au from solid residues. The leaching rate was 87.43-89.35% within 10 minutes. For Khamo sample, 100% Au was leached after 60 minutes of leaching time. Therefore, in order to process the tailings continuously generated in Mongolia, applying the same process as the present study is expected to effectively recover the valuable resources contained in the tailings.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.449-454
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• 2012

Economic feasibility of the process for a coal extraction under mild condition, which will produce ash-free coal at a temperature lower than that of coal softening, was analyzed. To this end, the plant of 6000 t/d in capacity was assumed to be constructed near a coal mine in Indonesia, and the IRR, NPV, B/C ratio, and DPP of the plant were calculated based on $96 million investment cost and 15 years service life. The IRR, NPV, B/C ratio, and DPP of the plant were calculated to be 31%, $87 million, 1.08, and 3.9 years, respectively, and which satisfied the evaluation criteria of investment. The economic feasibility of the plant was mainly dependent on the price of the coal initially fed and the residue coal remaining after the extraction, according to sensitivity analysis.