Assessment of As and Heavy Metal Contamination in the Vicinity of Duckum Au-Ag Mine, Korea

In order to assess the potential of As and heavy metal contamination derived from past mining activity and to estimate the human bioavailability quotients for As and heavy metals. Tailings, soils and crop samples were collected and analysed for As, Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn. The mean concentrations of As, Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn in the tailings were 68.5, 7.8, 99, 3,754 and 733 µg g−1, respectively. Maximum Pb concentration in tailings was up to 90 times higher than its tolerable level. The concentrations of these metals were highest in the soils from the dressing plant area, and decreased in the order: farmland soil to paddy soil. In particular, some of the soils from the dressing plant area contained more than 1% of Pb and Zn. The pollution index ranged from 0.19 to 1.93 in paddy soils, and from 1.47 to 3.60 in farmland soils. The average concentrations of heavy metals in crops collected from farmland were higher than those in rice stalks or rice grains, and higher than the internationally accepted limits for vegetables. Element concentrations extracted from farmland soils within the simulated human stomach for 1 h are 9.4 mg kg−1 As, 3.8 mg kg−1 Cd, 37 mg kg−1 Cu, 250 mg kg−1 Pb and 301 mg kg−1 Zn. In particular, the extracted concentrations of Cd, Pb and Zn are in excess of the tolerable levels. The results of the simple bioavailability extraction test (SBET) indicate that regular ingestion (by inhalation and from dirty hands) of soils by the local population could pose a potential health threat due to long-term toxic element exposure.