Leachability of Arsenic and Heavy Metals from Mine Tailings of Abandoned Metal Mines

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Mihee Lim²  Gi-Chun Han²  Ji-Whan Ahn¹  Kwang-Suk You² 

[1] Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM), 92 Gwahang-no, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-350, Korea;

关键词: mine tailings;    abandoned mines;    arsenic (As);    heavy metals;    sequential extraction;    EPA method 6010;    Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP);   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijerph6112865

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

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].

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2009 by the authors; licensee Molecular Diversity Preservation International, Basel, Switzerland.