• The Korean Journal of Ecology
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.189-192
• /
• 2005

We tested the field adaptation of Betula schmidtii on the abandoned coal-mine soil with sludge amendment methods for promoting physiological activity of B. schmidtii seedlings under several environmental stress. Sewage sludges were amended to coal-mine soil with B. schmidtii seedlings which grown in the mixture of artificial soil and composted sludge soil before transplanting (before-fertilized treatment, BF) and fertilized with composted sludge after transplanting (after-fertilized treatment, AF). The percent of establishment of seedlings for AF (80.7%) was lower than that for BF (92.7%). Nitrate reductase activity and photosynthetic pigment content were higher in AF than in BF, but malondialdehyde (MDA) content and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity were lower in AF than in BF These results represent that after-fertilized seedlings increase resistance against physiological stress at field condition using nitrogen source of composted sludge. On the contrary, before-fertilized seedlings were susceptible to environmental stress on abandoned coal-mine soil by exhausting of nitrogen source from composted sludge.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
• /
• 1996.04a
• /
• pp.57-64
• /
• 1996

Lately, rapid expansion of construction industry and following increment of demand for concrete in the construction created shortage of aggregates in the nation. Supplement of good quality aggregate is an immediate issue for the construction industry to solve. Therefore, this study evaluated a possibility of using coal mine waste collceted from Kwangwon-do region as a source of aggregate in manufacturing polymer concretes which have high strength and high durability. First, aggregates were obtained by crushing coal mine waste and polymer concrete was manufactured using these aggregate. Mechanical property test results for the polymer concrete showed that the coal mine waste aggregates were acceptable to use as a replacement of the aggregate in polymer concrete manufacture.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
• /
• v.95 no.1
• /
• pp.23-31
• /
• 2006

Vegetation structure of Samchang, Bongmyeong, Kabjeong, Danbong coal mine and control site was investigated to provide basic information on vegetation rehabilitation of abandoned coal mine lands in Mungyeong. Gyeongbuk Province. The middle and lower layer consisted of 3 and 10 species for Samchang, 2 and 5 species for Bongmyeong, 7 and 11 species for Kabjeong, 9 and 12 species for Danbong coal mine, and 15 and 17 species appeared for control site, respectively. Importance value of Lespedeza cyrtobotrya in lower layer was the highest for in Samchang, and that of Rubus crataegifolius in other coal mine lands wast he highest. Importance value in herbaceous layer was the highest for Arundinella hirta in Samchang, for Corchoropsis tomentosa in Bongmyeong, for Miscanthus sinensis in Kabjeong, for Carex lanceolata and Artemisia princeps var. orientalis in Danbong coal mines, and Calamagrostis arundinacea in control site was the highest, respectively. Species diversity of middle and lower layer for four coal mine lands ranged from 0.201 to 0.666 and 0.612 to 0.895, respectively. Evenness of lower layer ranged from 0.683 to 0.875 for four coal mine lands, and it was 0.990 for control site.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
• /
• 2004.09a
• /
• pp.37-47
• /
• 2004

In Korea, over three hundreds of the coal mines were closed or abandoned due to the depression of the mining industry since the late 1980s. Many of them locate in the steep mountain valleys and the coal mine wastes had been disposed without a proper treatment From these mines, enormous amounts of coal mine overburdens have been abandoned in the slopes and the ample amounts of acid mine drainage (AMD) from either portal or overburdens have been discharging directly to the streams, causing the detrimental effects on soil and water qualities. Objectives of this research were to reclaim the coal mine overburdens using the lime waste cake from the soda ash production by stabilizing the overburden slopes, introducing the vegetation alleviate the environmental problems caused by the closed coal mines. The percentages of the grass distribution ratio (%) and the surface coverage ($\textrm{cm}^2$) in each treatment plot were determined during June to August after seed spraying grasses such as orchard grass (Dactylis glomerata L), Kentucky Bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.) and Eulalia (Miscanthus sinensis Anderss) at the end of May. The grasses covered only 15.5 % of the coal overburden plot at the early stage but the coverage was increased with time to 33% in August. Growth of such grasses was enhanced with the combined treatments of lime waste and topsoil resulting in the increased surface coverage by the grasses. The Increment of the surface coverage from June to August was higher with lime waste treatments. The distribution percentages and surface coverage were highest when the lime wastes were treated at 25 % of the lime requirement. This might be related with the high salt contents in the hire wastes. Results demonstrated that the amounts of lime wastes at 25% of the lime requirement were sufficient for neutralizing the acidic coal overburden and introducing the re-vegetation. Either layering between the coal waste and topsoil or mixing with coal overburdens could be adopted as the lime waste treatment method. The combined treatment of lime wastes and topsoil was recommended for re-vegetation in the coal overburden slopes. The lime wastes from the soda ash production might have a potential to be recycled for the reclamation of the abandoned coal mines to alleviate the environmental problems associated with coal mine waste.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.49-57
• /
• 2001

With reducing coal mining industry the number of coal mine sites between 1988 and 1998 was dropped from 347 to 12. Since the abandoned coal mine sites have been kept without any cares, they have raised various environmental and safety problems. Then, Korean government initiated a special law in 1995 for enhancing economic conditions and solving environmental problems with promoting developmental projects in the abandoned mining sites. As a result, casino business in Chungsun area has been opened to publics, and other large-scale developments such as ski slopes and resorts are planned. In addition, Boryung area in Chungchung province also will launch a large-scale project building golf courses. Based on this developmental trend, it is expected that lots of large-scale developments in other places will be taken place. In general, the large-scale developments have caused various environmental problems, and, thus, environmental aspects should be considered in a decision-making process. This paper examine the status of the abandoned mine sites in Korea and U.S. and suggests the alternatives of its utilization.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.19 no.5
• /
• pp.383-392
• /
• 2019

How to safely and economically dispose mining tailings is a challenge to mine operators. This paper presents an alternative upstream method for tailings dam construction, termed as the template construction method (TCM), which has been successfully implemented at Zhelamuqing tailings impoundment since 2004. By the beginning of 2015, the tailings dam wall had reached 95 m in height for the 46 upstream raises, with the total height of the dam including the starter dyke being 128 m. The proposed TCM is relatively simple and cost-effective and provides a good way for constructing rapidly raising tailings dam based on this case.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.53-61
• /
• 2020

This study assessed the feasibility of coal mine drainage sludge (CMDS) as a stabilizing agent for mercury contaminated soil through pot experiments and batch tests. In the pot experiments with 43 days of lettuce growth, the bioavailability of mercury in the amended soil and mercury content of the lettuce were decreased by 46% and 50%, respectively. These results were similar to those of the soil amended with the sulfide compound (FeS) generally used for mercury stabilization. Thus, CMDS could be an attractive mercury stabilizer in terms of industrial by-product recycling. Batch tests were conducted to examine mercury fractionation including reactions between the soil and acetic acid. The result showed that some elemental fraction changed to strongly bounded fraction rather than residual (HgS) fraction. This made it possible to conclude that mercury adsorption on oxides in CMDS was the major mechanism of stabilization.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
• /
• v.7 no.4
• /
• pp.265-273
• /
• 2005

Chemical properties and heavy metal concentrations of forest soils of four abandoned coal mine lands affected by coal mining activities in the Mungyeong area were investigated to provide basic information for revegetation of abandoned coal mine lands. Soil pH in abandoned coal mine lands ranged from 5.30 to 6.76 it in the control site was 5.23. Contents of organic matter and total N in abandoned coal mine lands were $4.46\~7.19\%\;and\;0.07\~0.15\%$, respectively. Available P contents were 6.54 for A (Samchang), 6.52 for B (Bongmyeong),3.94 fur C (Kabjung), 5.45 mg/kg for D (Danbong coal mine land) and 5.25 mg/kg for the control site, which had a positive correlation with soil pH. Contents of exchangeable Ca, Mg, K and Na in abandoned coal mile lands averaged 196.1, 88.7, 88.2 and $10.2cmol^+/kg$, with a range of $132.1\~242.1,\;24.2\~138.\; 64.9\~120.8\;and\;8\~12.2cmol^+/kg$, respectively. Those of the control site were 192.8, 95.8, 104 and $21.2 cmol^+/kg$, respectively. Heavy metals such as Al, As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn of forest soil in abandoned coal mine lands have a larger content than those of the control site. Al, Mn and fb content was especially high in abandoned coal mine lands. The Al content of forest soil in abandoned coal mine lands ranged from 397 to 917 ppm, which was considered to be high enough to inhibit tree growth. Therefore, it is suggested that soils of abandoned coal mine lands contaminated by mining activities need to be properly treated for remediation of environmental problems.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.27 no.6
• /
• pp.537-550
• /
• 2021

There are various technical problems need to be solved in the construction process of pre-setting an isolation wall into a double lane in the outburst prone mine. This study presents a methodology that pre-setting an isolation wall into a double lane without a coal pillar. This requires the excavation of two small section roadways to dig a wide section roadway, followed by construction of the separation wall. During this process the connecting lane is reserved. In order to ensure the stability of the separation wall, the required bearing capacity of the isolation wall is 4.66 MN/m and the deformation of the isolation wall is approximately 25 cm. To reduce the difficulty of implementing support the roadway is driven by 5 m/d. After the construction of the separation wall, the left side coal wall is brushed 1.5 m to make the width of the gas roadway reach 2.5 m and the roadway support utilizes anchor rod, ladder beam, anchor cable beam and net configuration. During construction, the concrete pump and removable self-propelled hydraulic wall mold are used to pump and pour the concrete of the isolation wall. In the process of mining, the stress distribution of coal body and isolation wall is detected and measured on site. The results demonstrate that the deformation of the surrounding rock of roadway and separation of roof in the roadway is small. The stress of the bolt and anchor cable is within equipment tolerance validating their selection. The roadway is well supported and the intended goal is achieved. The methodology can be used for reference for similar mine gas control.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.8 no.3
• /
• pp.135-146
• /
• 1975

The chiastolite bearing shale was known to occur in various coal fields in South Korea among which the Kangneung coal fields is the most outstanding in quality and quantity of chiastolite. The chiastolite occurs mostly in black shales of Sadong formation and little in shales of Hongjom and Kobangsan formations, and is most abundant in the footwall coaly shales of the Sadong coal seams. The chiastolite has been proved to be thermal contact product of the high aluminous shale that comes into contact with Kangneung granite. The distribution of chiastolite in the Kangneung coal field is irregular. The eastern part of the region contains more chiastolite than that of western part. It is believed that the difference of the grade is due to the intensity of metamorphism. The grade of chiastolite in the shale varies from few percent up to as high as 60 % in volume, and the minable reserve of the chiastolite is estimated about 4,700,000 tons. This reserves is rather concentrated in few localities such as in Jiam Mine, Jungrim Mine, Sir 1 Hang in the Whasung Mine, the second and third sections of Kangneung Mine and Umbuelri district. The chemical composition of chiastolite bearing coaly shale is $SiO_2$, 35.0%; $Al_2O_3$, 27.0%; $Fe_2O_3$, 0.29%.