Sulfide oxidation and the natural attenuation of arsenic and trace metals in the waste rocks of the abandoned Seobo tungsten mine, Korea

Geochemical modeling indicated that the leach solutions were supersaturated with respect to goethite, hematite, and magnetite at pH greater than 2.9. Ferrihydrite, Fe(OH)3, was not in equilibrium with the solution during the entire experiment, suggesting that amorphous Fe-hydroxide can only form in small amounts. X-ray analyses of Seobo mine-waste samples indicated the presence of jarosite and goethite, which retain As, Pb, Zn and Cu during precipitation and co-precipitation.