Heavy Metal Contamination in the Vicinity of the Okdong Mine Area in Korea

Jeong-Jin Kim; Hyung Suk Oh; Gyo Cheol Jeong; Young-Hun Kim

doi:10.15866/ireche.v12i1.19521

Heavy Metal Contamination in the Vicinity of the Okdong Mine Area in Korea

Jeong-Jin Kim^(1*), Hyung Suk Oh⁽²⁾, Gyo Cheol Jeong⁽³⁾, Young-Hun Kim⁽⁴⁾

^(*) Corresponding author

Authors' affiliations

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15866/ireche.v12i1.19521

Abstract

An abandoned metal mine, Okdong mine in Korea was evaluated in the respect of contamination of soil. About 70 soil samples including surface soil, deep soil, tailing core, farmland soil, and sediments were collected and analyzed for the evaluation of heavy metal contamination. The mine area was heavily contaminated with Pb, Zn, Cu, Mn and was lightly contaminated with Cd, As, Hg. The contaminated soils have been transported through a stream named Saegok to downstream and consequently the sediments of Saegok creek have been also contaminated. The farmland located downstream of the tailing dam and the plants was not highly contaminated. Acid mine drainage from the mine adits also is highly contaminated with heavy metals and showed seasonal variation in pH and content of heavy metals. Sequential extraction of surface soil samples showed low portion of easily extractable heavy metal. Current study showed that other abandoned mines with similar situation might be contaminated and need full scale evaluation.
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Keywords

Abandoned Mine; Heavy Metal; Soil Contamination; Acid Mine Drainage; Leaching

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References

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