Leachability of arsenic and heavy metals from mine tailings of abandoned metal mines.
Mine tailings from an abandoned metal mine in Korea contained high concentrations of arsenic (As) and heavy metals [e.g., As: 67,336, Fe: 137,180, Cu: 764, Pb: 3,572, and Zn: 12,420 (mg/kg)]. US EPA method 6010 was an effective method for analyzing total arsenic and heavy metals concentrations. Arsenic in the mine tailings showed a high residual fraction of 89% by a sequential extraction. In Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) and Korean Standard Leaching Test (KSLT), leaching concentrations of arsenic and heavy metals were very low [e.g., As (mg/L): 0.4 for TCLP and 0.2 for KSLT; cf. As criteria (mg/L): 5.0 for TCLP and 1.5 for KSLT].
Lim
Mihee
M
Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, Gwahang-no, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, Korea. limmh@paran.com
Han
Gi-Chun
GC
Ahn
Ji-Whan
JW
You
Kwang-Suk
KS
Kim
Hyung-Seok
HS
D001151:Arsenic / Q000633:toxicity*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D006801:Humans; D007220:Industrial Waste / Q000009:adverse effects*; D007723:Korea; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000633:toxicity; D008906:Mining; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity*; D014877:Water Pollution, Chemical; D018508:Water Purification
D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D007220:Industrial Waste; D019216:Metals, Heavy; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D001151:Arsenic