• Journal of Korea Soil Environment Society
• /
• v.4 no.2
• /
• pp.175-183
• /
• 1999

Mine tailings, field soils, and paddy soils around Jingok abandoned mine were analyzed In order to investigate their pollution levels of heavy metals and cyanide. The average contents of As, Cd, Cu. Hg. Pb, Zn, and CN￣in mine tailings were 3.94$\times$$10^3$, 14.3, 266, 6.13, 4.07$\times$$10^3$, 2.51$\times$$10^3$, and 1.19mg/kg, respectively. The pollution indices calculated by the tolerance level of Kloke were 32~58 and the pH values were slightly acidic in mine tailings. In the field and paddy soils of Jingok abandoned mine area except for soils nearby mine tailings, concentrations of the heavy metals were less than standards of soil pollution of agricultural area in the environmental protection law.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.37 no.5
• /
• pp.335-341
• /
• 2011

The Goseong abandoned mine accident was a typical case of long-term sequela resulting from environmental disruption during the rapid economic development of Korea. While the final conclusion of epidemiologic investigation was that residents surrounding the abandoned mine were simply exposed to cadmium from the abandoned mine without any patient contracting 'itai-itai' disease, not only did residents around the abandoned mine suffer enormous psychological and economic damage, but people in neighbouring communities did as well when the entire area was stigmatized as an contaminated area. Environmental civic groups and the government worked together to solve the problem by forming a joint committee which held the right of decision in any matter to be determined. By inviting all the stakeholders to participate in the joint committee, a transparent investigation was guaranteed and the results of investigation and recommendations to solve the problem were accepted by all involved. Even though the environmental health division in Ministry of Environment has developed considerably and built up a capacity to deal with environmental accidents, the process which was adopted to solving the Goseong abandoned mine accident can be useful to settle environmental health issues with severe conflicts among stakeholders.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
• /
• 2005.04a
• /
• pp.363-370
• /
• 2005

There are approximately 2,000 metallic mines which have been abandoned in Korea. Most of the mines are located in the watershed area, which is main source of drinking water for Seoul Metropolitan area. Untreated mining wastes are remained around abandoned mines in study area. These mining wastes, flowing into farmland and stream in the downstream of abandoned mines, would cause water and soil pollution. The mining waste samples from Guedo mine, Manjung mine and Joil mine recently abandoned were collected for the evaluation of the potential of water pollution by mine waste. Index of geoaccumulation($M\"{u}ller$, 1979), fractional composition and removal efficiency of some heavy metals by different concentration of HCl treatment were analyzed. Index of geoaccumulation of Cd, Pb, Zn, Cu, Ni and Cr are 6, $4{\sim}6,\;0{\sim}6,\;4{\sim}5$, 2 and 0 respectively. Index of geoaccumulation of Cd, Pb, Zn and Cu reveals the mining wastes has high pollution pottential in the area. Organic fraction of Cu, reducible fraction of Pb, residual fraction of Ni and Zn were the most abundant fraction of heavy metals in mining wastes.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.197-204
• /
• 1999

The extent of heavy metal pollution in agricultural in soils near the abandoned mine land site was investigated using their concentrations from the 47 sampling sites in B mine. Samples were prepared using 0.1N HCI - Korean Standard Methods - and then analysed for Cd, Cu, Pb, As and Cr by Inductively Coupled Plasma Spectrometer. In addition, soil and mine tailing samples were sequentially extracted to investigate the chemical speciation of heavy metals in them. The soils in the vicinity of mining area are highly contaminated by heavy metals ranging up to 5.96mg Cd/kg, 253.3mg Cu/kg, 76.7mg Pb/kg, and 15.45 mg As/kg, according to the analysis of Korean Standard Methods. The heavy metal levels by the sequential extraction are much higher than its level by Korean Standard Methods, and little correlated with each other. Based on the results, it is suggested that the As pollution in agricultural soils near the AMLS should be dealt as of prior significance in establishing reclamation strategies for the area.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.93-108
• /
• 2013

This study is aimed to prepare the effective detail survey methods(Phase II) of abandoned metal mines through the contamination assessment for mine types and facilities in the abandoned metal mine areas. The study sites of 12 abandoned mines are located in Gyeonggi-do and Gangwon-do and those were chosen among 310 sites that the Phase II survey was conducted from 2007 to 2009 after considering the results of Phase I for abandoned mines scattered all over the country. 12 study sites were classified into four types; Type I sites only have pit mouth. Type II sites have pit mouth and mine-waste field. Type III sites have pit mouth and tailing sorting field. Type IV sites have pit mouth, tailing sorting field and concentrator(s). In forest land, paddy soil and farm land of Type I, As and Cd were showed average concentration, and Cu and Pb were high on the pit mouth area in one mines where the pit mouth was developed within 500 m. In the mines of Type II, Cu and Pb were showed average concentration too, but As and Cd were slightly high in pit mouth and mine-waste field. The mines of Type III which had grinding particle process through physical separation milling or hitting showed similar tendency with Type II. However, mines of Type IV pit mouth, mine-waste field and showed various results depending on defining the contamination sources. For example, if contamination source was pit mouth, the mixed results of Type I, II, II were showed. In tailing sorting field which was regarded as the most important source and having high mobility, however, if there were no facilities or it was difficult to access directly, field sampling was missed occasionally during phase I and phase II survey. For that reason, the assessment for tailing sorting field is missed and it leads to completely different results. In the areas of Type I mines, the concentration of heavy metals exceeded precautionary standards of soil contamination or not within 1,000 meters of pit mouth. Nickel(Ni) was the largest factor of the heavy metal contamination in this type. The heavy metals except Arsenic(As) were shown high levels of concentration in Type II areas, where pit mouth and mine-waste field were operated for making powder in upriver region; therefore, to the areas in the vicinity of midstream and downstream, the high content of heavy metals were shown. The tendency of high level of heavy metals and toxic materials contained in flotation agent used during sorting process were found in soil around sorting and tailing field. In the abandoned-pit-mouth area, drygrinding area and tailing sorting field area, the content of Cupper(Cu) and Zinc(Zn) were higher than other areas. Also, the contaminated area were larger than mine reclamation area(2,000 m) and the location of tailing sorting field was one of the important factors to estimate contaminated area.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.53 no.2
• /
• pp.133-145
• /
• 2020

Soil in mine waste-rock fields, and at the pithead, sediments and farmlands around an abandoned mine in the Chungcheong Province of South Korea were investigated to assess the distribution of metallic elements and to understand the scope of the pollution. Reddening was observed from the mine up to a distance of 61 m. Losses of waste rock around the mine were assessed over a section of 1800 ㎥. Yellowish precipitates on the bottom of a stream were identified as ferrihydrite and goethite. For anions, a mean sulfate ion level over 773.6 mg/L was found during August in the river water samples. Mine drainage at the site was shown to have a pH of 4.9 and a sulfate concentration of 1557.8 mg/L during the August rainy season. A possible cause of the metallic element contamination in the mine is waste-rock loss, because mine waste-rock is located on the slope in this area. In conclusion, the total soil area to be treated, based on the amount that exceeded the recommended Korean soil pollution levels, was assessed to be 10,297 ㎡.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
• /
• 2003.09a
• /
• pp.422-425
• /
• 2003

This study was carried out to apprehend the variation of quality of mine drainage in the abandoned Samtan coal mine. After closure of coal mine, although still pumping, water level in underground was raised to loom and the concentration of some elements such as Fe and Mn was elevated. At present, the worst pollution source in this area is too the acidic leachate drained from uncovered mine waste impoundment. The flow rate of mine drainage from the adit is ave. about 20,000t/d. If water were flooded and deteriorated due to stopping pumping, the impact of the mine drainage on the stream around the abandoned mine would be more severe. Therefore, It is considered that the prediction of water quality of mine drainage from the adit after stopping pumping will be very important with a view to establishing countermeasures.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
• /
• 2001.04a
• /
• pp.19-21
• /
• 2001

The Shiheung mine was closed in 1972 and has been abandoned since then. Although some restoration work has been done, there still remain mine failings in and around the mine, posing a potential environmental hazard. Mine tailings and the porewater extracted from the tailing were investigated to see any evidence of elemental release and migration to adjacent groundwater and soil in the field. The pHs of the tailing range from 6.24 to 7.23. Calcite in the studied area seems to influence on such neutral pH range. Depth profile of mine tailing demonstrate elements have been leached and removed as a consequence of weathering during disposal. This is also supported by the findings from porewater analysis, corresponding the trends in the mine tailings. The concentrations of Cu, Cd, Pb, Zn in the tailing porewater exceed the standard value of EPA for drinking water and this implies groundwater can be contaminated through infiltration of the porewaters, which ultimately will be discharged as leachate from the mine tailing. Groundwater samples collected near the mine area do not show high metal concentrations, except for Fe, which were detected over drinking water standard.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.15 no.6
• /
• pp.29-36
• /
• 2010

Several mines including Namil, Solim and Jungbong which are located in the Gyeonggi and Kangwon province have been abandoned and closed since 1980 due to "The promotion policy of mining industry". An enormous amount of mining wastes was disposed without proper treatment, which caused soil pollution in tailing dam and ore-dressing plant areas. However, any quantitative assessment was not performed about soil and water pollution by transporting mining wastes such as acid mine drainage, mine tailing, and rocky waste. In this research, heavy metals in mining wastes were analyzed according to leaching method which used 0.1 N HCl and total solution method which used Aqua-regia to recognize the ecological effect of distance from hot spot. We sampled tailings, rocky wastes and soils around the abandoned mine. Chemical and physical parameters such as pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total organic carbon (TOC), soil texture and heavy metal concentration were analyzed. The range of soil's pH is between 4.3 and 6.4 in the tailing dam and oredressing plant area due to mining activity. Total concentrations of As, Cu, and Pb in soil near ore dressing plant area are 250.9, 249.3 and 117.2 mg/kg respectively, which are higher than any other ones near tailing dam area. Arsenic concentration in tailing dams is 31.0 mg/kg, which is also considered as heavily polluted condition comparing with the remediation required level(RRL) in "Soil environment conservation Act".

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.31 no.6
• /
• pp.499-508
• /
• 1998

The Imgok Creek is located in the Gangreung coal field, which has been known that sulfides are more abundant than other coal fields in Korea, and it has been severly contaminated by acid mine drainage (AMD) discharging from the abandoned coal mines, such as the Youngdong, the Dongduk and the Waryong coal mines. The purposes of this study are to synthetically assess the contamination of natural water, stream sediment and cultivated soils, and to provide the basic data for AMD treatment. Geochemical samples were collected in December, 1996 (dry season) and April, 1997 (after three day's rainfall). TDS of the Youngdong mine water was remarkably higher than those of other mine waters. In the Imgok Creek, concentrations of most elements, except Fe decreased with distance by dilution caused by the inflow of uncontaminated tributaries. From the results of NAMDI and $I_{geo}$ calculation, the Youngdong coal mine was the main contamination source of the study area. Groundwater pollution was not yet confirmed in this study and the paddy and farm land soils were also not yet contaminated by mining activity based on the pollution index ranging from 0.27 to 0.47.