• 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.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.113-119
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• 2004

Mineral wastes are generated by the minerals, mining, and metal industries. These are generally inorganic waste streams of mainly waste rock or residues from refining during extraction of metals or minerals from the ore. There are many plants where minerals are recovered in secondany circuits, treating tailings, where the feed grades are much lower than would be economic on a mined ore. The world is now becoming aware of the finite nature of its resources at a price, and of the ever-increasing development costs of large new mines. Reprocessing of old tailings on a large scale must be worth examining very seriously by those with access to sufficient material of this type. In the present paper, mineral separation techniques to recover valuable metals and resources from the old tailings are reviewed, and new trends for future developments are also discussed.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.461-470
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• 2001

The Shihung mine was restored in the early 90's after abandonment for 20 yews since 1973. Although disposed mine tailings were removed and the site was replaced by an incineration plant, still some residual mine tailings remain in the places including the old mine tailing ditposal area and the adjacent agricultural area. These residual mine tailings are prone to impose an adverse impact on the soil and groundwater and needs investigation for the potential contamination. Mine tailing samples were collected from the old tailing disposal area and the iii paddy. The porewater from the mine tailing were extracted and analysed to investigate chemical changes along the reaction path. Batch leaching tests were also carried out in the laboratory to find any supporting evidence found in the field analysis. Evidence of elemental leaching was confirmed both by the mine tailing and the porewater chemistry in them. The element concentrations of Cu, Cd, Pb, Zn in the porewater exceed the standard for drinking water of Korean government and US EPA. Leaching of heavy metals from the mine tailing seem to be responsible for the contamination. In batch leaching test. heavy metals were either continuous1y released or declined rapidly. Combining the information with porewater variation with depths and the geochemical meodeling results, most of elements are controlled by dissolution and/or precipitation processes, with some solubility controlling solid phases (Cu, Pb, Fe and Zn). Batch leaching test conducted at fixed pH 4 showed much higher releases for the heavy metals up to 400 times (Zn) and this area is becoming more vulnerable to soil and groundwater pollution as precipitation pH shifts to acidic condition.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.57-63
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• 2016

This study were carried out sulfation roasting and selective leaching test for the effective recovery of copper component in concentrate obtained by froth floatation of Autrallian low grade copper ore. The optimum conditions of sulfation roasting were temp. $450^{\circ}C$, $Na_2SO_4$ 2 mole ratio and time 1.5 h, and then selective leaching were room temperature and $H_2O$ or 1M $H_2SO_4$ solutions. Leaching efficiency of optimum sulfation product were 90 wt.% of copper, 20 wt.% of iron and 15wt.% of nickel elements. In this results, it was possible to selective decomposition leaching of the copper component under optimum conditions in this research.