The aim of this study is to investigate the environmental risk of long-term metallurgical waste disposal. The investigated site was used for the open storage of lead and zinc waste materials originating from a lead smelter and refinery. Even after remediation was performed, the soil in the close vicinity of the metallurgical waste deposit was heavily loaded with heavy metals and arsenic. The pollutants were bound in various compounds in the form of sulfides, oxides, and chlorides, as well as complex minerals, impacting the pH values of the investigated soil, such that they varied between 2.8 for sample 6 and 7.34 for sample 8. In order to assess the environmental risk, some eight soil samples were analyzed by determining the total metal concentration by acid digestion and chemical fractionation of heavy metals using the BCR sequential extraction method. Inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) was used to determine six elements (As, Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn, and Ni). Total concentrations of the elements in the tested soil samples were in the range of 3870.4–52,306.18 mg/kg for As, 2.19–49.84 mg/kg for Cd, 268.03–986.66 mg/kg for Cu, 7.34–114.67 mg/kg for Ni, 1223.13–30,339.74 mg/kg for Pb, and 58.21–8212.99 mg/kg for Zn. The ratio between the mean concentrations of the tested metals was determined in this order: As > Pb > Zn > Cu > Ni > Cd. The BCR results showed that Pb (50.7%), Zn (49.2%), and Cd (34.7%) had the highest concentrations in mobile fractions in the soil compared to the other metals. The contamination factor was very high for Pb (0.09–33.54), As (0.004–195.8), and Zn (0.14–16.06). According to the calculated index of potential environmental risk, it was confirmed that the mobility of Pb and As have a great impact on the environment.

Most of the zinc producers in the world use the jarosite process to improve zinc recovery and to remove iron as an undesirable constituent of zinc ores. Jarosite waste released from the zinc extraction process in Mitrovica, Kosovo has led to severe environmental problems due to toxic heavy metals. This industrial waste from the Zn hydrometallurgy process was abandoned on an open field, being exposed to meteorological conditions and aging. The chemical composition and grain size distribution of the jarosite waste deposit was determined. Microwave digestion procedures were used on whole jarosite samples for use in inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry trace metal analysis (ICP-OES). In addition, different weathering conditions were considered for testing the emission rate of the particles in the laboratory, including relative humidity, wind speed, and temperature. Terrain properties, urban infrastructure, source formation, and location were used for modeling with the AERMOD View-Gaussian air dispersion model. The modeling results showed a range of pollution exceeding the maximum limits in an area of 3 km in the conditions of southeast wind direction and wind speed exceeding 10 m s−1, heavily polluting the city of Mitrovica.