• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 1997.05a
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• pp.12-16
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• 1997

폐금속 광산 주변 및 광산 하부 농경지 토양에 대한 중금속 오염원으로서 폐금속 광산 주변에 방치된 폐석의 영향을 고찰하고 오염토양에 대한 복구방법으로서 반전객토의 효율성을 검토하기 위하여 동진 금·은·동 광산 주변토양과 하부 농경지 중 오염된 논, 객토된 논 및 오염되지 않은 논을 선정하여 각각의 토양과 변에서 보여지는 금속원소의 함량과 분포특성을 비교·고찰한 결과, 동진광산에 주변에 방치된 폐석은 폐광된지 30여년이 지난 지금에도 주변토양 및 수계 하부의 농경지에 강한 중금속 오염원으로 작용하고 있음을 보여 이들의 광해를 방지하기 위해 적절한 복구대책이 필요한 것으로 판명되었다. 오염토양의 복구법으로서 반전객토지에서 산출된 나락의 중금속 함량(Cd 0.015ppm, Cr 0.07ppm, Cu 0.567ppm)은 비객토 오염지(Cd 0.096-0.215ppm, Cr 0.195-0.275ppm, Cu 1.085-1.151ppm)에 비해 대부분의 원소에서 2배 이상 낮은 값을 보이고 있어 농작물에의 중금속 전이를 억제하는 데는 상당히 효율적임을 시사했다. 이러한 결과는, 단순히 토양의 물리성 개선 및 이에 따른 토양환경의 변화 등에 의한 일시적 효과일 수 있음을 배제할 수 없지만, 적어도 반전객토법이 토질개선 방법 중 가장 간편하고 오염된 토양부분의 배출토에 대한 처리문제 및 이로 인한 이차오염문제 등을 고려하지 않아도 된다는 점을 감안할 때 소규모 금속광산 주변으로 비교적 오염정도가 약한 토양을 정화법으로 이용될 수 있음을 시사한다.

• 한국지구물리탐사학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2001.09a
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• pp.75-89
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• 2001

There are 334 coal mines and about 900 metal mines abandoned. The environmental problems such as acid mine drainage from adits etc. and the subsidence has occurred in the abandoned mines. In addition, soil has been contaminated by tailings. According to analysis of mine drainages, some of them from adits in the abandoned coal and metallic mines were acidic and polluted by heavy metals. Especially, water quality of coal mine drainages were different by areas. Treatment of mine drainage by conventional chemical treatment has the drawback because the operating cost is very expensive. The treatment system used in mine drainage is the natural treatment system such as anoxic limestone drain in adits and the constructed wetland. The method of reclamation for abandoned waste rocks and tailings impoundments are mainly landfilling.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.37 no.11
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• pp.619-630
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• 2015

This study was conducted to propose the methodology of human risk assessment specialized to domestic mine areas and to quantify the human risk of heavy metal (As, Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn) contamination around two abandoned metal mines. To attain the goals, we established a relevant exposure scenario, including 7 exposure pathways and extracted a variety of exposure factors reflecting the characteristics of inhabitants around abandoned metal mine areas. Finally, carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks were compared between two areas, exposure pathways, heavy metal contaminants, and receptors. The total excess carcinogenic risks of two mine areas of concern were calculated to be larger than the acceptable carcinogenic risk ($1{\times}10^{-6}$), indicating those two areas are not safe for carcinogenic hazard. In addition, the hazard indices of two areas were computed to be higher than unit risk (1), suggesting that the areas of concern have non-carcinogenic risk. Ingestion of crop and intake of groundwater were evaluated to be main exposure pathways contributing to carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks within the areas. Also, the results show that carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic hazards were mostly attributed to As and As, Cd, and Pb, respectively.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.414-431
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• 2016

There are numerous closed and abandoned mines in Korea, from which diverse heavy metals (e.g., As, Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn) are released into the surrounding soil, groundwater, surface water, and crops, potentially resulting in detrimental effects on the health of nearby residents. Therefore, we performed human risk assessments of two abandoned metal mines, Yanggok (YG) and Samsanjeil (SJ). The exposure parameters used in this assessment were specific to residents near mines and the included exposure pathways were relevant to areas around metal mines. The computed total excess carcinogenic risks for both areas exceeded the acceptable carcinogenic risk ($1{\times}10^{-6}$), indicating that these areas are likely unsafe due to a carcinogenic hazard. In contrast, the non-carcinogenic risks of the two areas differed among the studied receptors. The hazard indices were higher than the unit risk (=1.0) for male and female adults in YG and male adults in SJ, suggesting that there are non-carcinogenic risks for these groups in the study areas. However, the hazard indices for children in YG and female adults and children in SJ were lower than the unit risk. Consumption of groundwater and crops grown in the area were identified as major exposure pathways for carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic hazards in both areas. Finally, the dominant metals contributing to carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks were As and As, Cu, and Pb, respectively. In addition, the carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks of YG were evaluated to be 10 and 4 times higher than those of SJ, respectively, resulted from the relatively higher exposure concentration of As in groundwater within SJ area. Because of lacking of several exposure parameters, some of average daily dose (ADD) could not be computed in this study. Furthermore, it is likely that the ADDs of crop-intake pathway included some errors because they were calculated using soil exposure concentrations and bioconcentration factor (BCF) rather than using crop exposure concentrations.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.1-11
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• 2006

Attempts were made to analyze the national policy of soil contamination prevention and management of inactive or abandoned metal (IAM) mines in Korea. This approach focused on legal systems and legislation, remediation technology development, and the arrangement or distribution of budgets pertaining to national policy since the mid 1990's. Prevention of Mining Damage and Recovery Act enacted. Defines the roles, responsibility and budget of the government when recovering mine damages. However, in 2005 there still remains to improve the national policy of soil contamination prevention and management of IAM mines. Analysis of national and industrialized foreign countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands suggest the following improvements: i) arranging distinct regulations between strict and non-strict liability criteria for potentially responsible parties; limiting innocent and non-strict liability depending on the period of incurred mining activity, ii) enhancing participation of local communities by enforcing law and legislation, iii) establishing a national database system of (potentially) IAM contaminated sites based on the Website-Geographic Information System, iv) carrying out site-specific risk assessments and remediation of IAM contaminated sites, v) preparation and distribution of clean-up fund at mine sites adequately, and vi) technology development for the cleaning of IAM contaminated sites; awarding positive incentives of a legal nature for participants applying newly developed technology in IAM mines.

• Bulletin of Korea Environmental Preservation Association
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• s.399
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• pp.12-15
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• 2012

국내에서 발생되는 도시광산 즉 폐금속 자원으로부터 유가금속을 회수하는 방안에 대한 관심이 최근 급증하고 있어 현실적인 대안으로 주목받고 있다. 국내에서 폐기된 폐전기 전자제품의 통계자료로부터 국내에 축적된 각종 폐전기 전자제품의 규모를 산정하면 약 3.3억대에 9.6조원 규모의 유가금속이 존재하는 것으로 분석되었으며 이에 대한 효율적인 재활용 기술이 활성화 된다면 소재원료의 자급도를 개선하고 안정적으로 확보할 수 있는 기반을 마련할 수 있을 것으로 기대된다.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.309-323
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• 2015

This study was initiated to propose the method for human risk assessment suitable to metal mine area. Using a variety of exposure parameters extracted from the investigation of abandoned metal mines, the proposed method was applied to assess the risk of As and heavy metal contamination for inhabitants (male and female adults and child) within an abandoned mine area. Based on the results of risk assessment, in addition, target remediation concentrations of each media (soil, groundwater, and surface water) were estimated. The results indicate that total carcinogenic risk (TCR) and hazard index (HI) representing carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks, respectively, were calculated to exceed the tolerable levels (1.00E-6 and 1) with regard to two exposure pathways (groundwater and crop intakes) and As. Thus, the human risk of study area was evaluated to be significant. Based on the target risk (TR) for carcinogens, the remediation concentrations of soil were computed to be 6.83~6.85 mg/kg and 18.41~18.46 mg/kg for As and Pb, respectively. In terms of target hazard index (THI) for non-carcinogens, the remediation concentrations of soil were calculated to be 17.38 mg/kg for Cu and 9.13 mg/kg for As.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.577-586
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• 2008

The formation of acid mine drainage is closely related to water chemistry and ochreous sprecipitates formed at the bottom of creeks because it is initially derived from the possible water-rock interaction in abandoned waste metals at the mine. According to analyses on water, precipitates, and alteration characters of ore metals in Dalseone mine, whitish precipitates formed at pHs above 5 while schwertmannite formed at pH $3{\sim}4$. Water chemistry vary with seasons. The water chemistry of the treatment site measured ir Octoter 2002 is characterized by lower pH, and higher Al, Zn, Cu contents relative to those in March, 2003. In the latter case, As and Cl contents are very high. $^{27}Al$ MAS NMR data show the presence of predominant octahedral Al in whitish precipitates. Metal ore minerals dissolve at margins, cleavage, or comer of crystals where reactive sites are potential. Pyrite dissolves, forming etch pits or smooth faces on the edge.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.97-102
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• 2007

An environmental survey from three abandoned metal mine areas was undertaken on to assess the risk of adverse health effects on human exposure to heavy metals influenced by past mining activities. Tailings contained high concentrations of heavy metals may have a impact on soils and waters around the tailing piles. In order to perform the human risk assessment, chemical analysis data of soils, rice grains and waters for As, Cd, Cu and Pb have been used. The HQ values for heavy metals via the rice consumption were significantly higher compared with other exposure pathways in all metal mine areas. The resulting HI values in three mine areas were higher than 9.0, and their toxic risk due to rice ingestion was strong in these mine areas. The cancer risk of being exposed to As by the rice consumption from the A, B and C mine areas was $5.1\;{\times}\;10^{-3}$, $6.8\;{\times}\;10^{-3}$ and $3.1\;{\times}\;10^{-3}$, respectively. The As cancer risk via the exposure pathway of rice ingestion from these mine areas exceeds the acceptable risk of 1 in 10,000 set for regulatory purposes. Thus, the daily intakes of rice by the local residents from these mine areas can pose a potential health threat if exposed by long-term As exposure.

• Proceedings of the KSEEG Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.93-96
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• 2003

국내 휴ㆍ폐금속광산 주변지역을 대상으로 광산활동으로 인한 독성 중금속 원소들의 주변 환경 유출과정 및 정도를 규명하여 생활에 미치는 환경오염의 가능성을 조사하는 환경지구 화학적 연구가 지속적으로 이루어지고 있다. 이들 중의 대부분은 적절한 환경복원시설이 설치되지 않아, 방치된 광미와 폐석에 의해 주변지역의 환경오염이 발생되는 것으로 보고되고 있다. 국외의 경우 광산활동의 주요한 폐기물인 광미와 폐석에 대한 매립 및 처리 모델 개발, 침출수 관리 등 다양한 환경오염 방지 및 복구 연구가 수행되고 있다. (중략)