Assessment of Heavy Metals in Top Soil around a Proposed Uranium Tailings Pond in Southern India

The concentration of heavy metals such as copper, iron, manganese, lead and zinc in top soil around a proposed uranium mining and tailings pond area in Nalgonda district, Andhra Pradesh, India was determined. Fourteen soil samples were collected in July 2010 and analysed as per standard procedures. The mean concentration of copper, iron, manganese, lead and zinc in the soil was 0.19, 54.48, 2.0, 0.33 and 0.34 mg/kg respectively. This study provided the spatial variation in concentration of heavy metals as a baseline data for impact assessments of the proposed uranium mining and tailings storage activity in future.