Old environmental loads are priority environmental problems in Slovakia. An old environmental load is an anthropogenic constituent in landscape which has its origin in past works (for example mining and mineral processing) but in present time it can also pose risk for the environment. One of environmental loads in Slovakia is sludge bed in Slovinky. Village Slovinky is well-known for mining activities during several centuries. From the beginning copper ore was mined there, later on iron ore which was processed in the metallurgical factory in Krompachy. The mining activity in Slovinky was stopped in 1993. Flotation slurry from ore treatment plant was deposited on the sludge bed which was operated from 1968 to 1999. More than 4.8 million cubic meters of slurry is deposited there. Locality of Slovinky is included in State Remediation Program of Environmental Loads (2010-2015). The paper summarizes the actual state of knowledge about environmental impact of mineral processing and theoretical analysis of problem of environmental impact of environmental load – sludge bed in Slovinky. Experimental part of the paper is focused on study of possibilities of elimination of heavy metals in sludge bed material with the aim of improvement of the environmental quality of surveyed locality.