Environmental contamination and geochemical behaviour of heavy metals around the abandoned Songcheon Au-Ag mine, Korea

The objective of this study is to investigate the contamination levels and dispersion patterns of arsenic and heavy metals and to estimate the bioaccessible fraction of the metals in soil and plant samples in the vicinity of the abandoned Songcheon Au-Ag mine. Tailings, soils, plants (Chinese cabbage, red pepper, soybean, radish, sesame leaves, green onion, lettuce, potato leaves, angelica and groundsel) and waters were collected around the mine site. After appropriate preparation, all samples were analyzed for As, Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn by ICP-AES and ICP-MS. Elevated levels of As and heavy metals were found in tailings. Mean concentrations of As in agricultural soils were higher than the permissible level. Especially, maximum level of As in farmland soil was 513 mg/kg. The highest concentrations of As and Zn were found in Chinese cabbage (6.7 mg/kg and 359 mg/kg, respectively). Concentrations of As, Cd, and Zn in most stream waters which are used for drinking water around this mine area were higher than the permissible levels regulated in Korea. Maximum levels of As, Cd and Zn in stream waters were 0.78 mg/L, 0.19 mg/L and 5.4 mg/L, respectively. These results indicate that mine tailings can be the main contamination sources of As and heavy metals in the soil-water system in the mine area. The average of estimated bioaccessible fraction of As in farmland soils were $3.7\%$ (in simulated stomach) and $10.8\%$ (in simulated small intestine). The highest value of bioaccessible fraction of metal in farmland soils was $46.5\%$ for Cd.