Vol. 10(33), pp. 3246-3252, 13 August, 2015 DOI: 10.5897/AJAR2015.10029 Article Number: 251E03854920 ISSN 1991-637X Copyright ©2015 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article http://www.academicjournals.org/AJAR African Journal of Agricultural Research Full Length Research Paper Study of potential environmental risk of trace metallic elements in mine tailings: Case of Draa Lasfar functional mine in Marrakech - Morocco Barkouch Yassir 1,2 *, El Fadeli Sana 3 , Khadiri Mohy Edine 4 and Pineau Alain 1 1 Laboratoire de Toxicologie et d’hygiène Industrielle, 1 rue Gaston Veil, 44035, Nantes Cedex, France. 2 Laboratoire Régional du Diagnostic Epidémiologique et d’hygiène du Milieu –Marrakech – Morocco. 3 Département de Biologie, Faculté des Sciences Semlalia, Bd Moulay Abdellah Bp, 2390-40001, Marrakech Morocco. 4 Laboratoire de Physique de Solide et Des Couches Minces, Bd Moulay Abdellah. BP, 2390-40001, Marrakech Morocco. Received 13 June, 2015; Accepted 16 July, 2015 Mining activity is one of the most important sources of heavy metals in the environment. In Marrakech region, functioning or abandoned mines represent a great hazard due to huge amounts of waste deposited in waste dumps and tailings often with high concentration of heavy metals pollution. In this study, the chemical forms of four heavy metals in mine tailings of Draa Lasfar in north-west of Marrakech city (Morocco) were studied by determining of four metals (Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn) using standard solvent extraction and atomic absorption spectrophotometric techniques. The chemical pools of the metals indicated that the metals were distributed into six fractions with most of the metals residing in the non-residual fractions, suggesting how readily the metals are released into the environment. Results showed Cd and Cu were predominantly associated with short-term mobile fraction (F1 and F2) while Pb was largely associated with long-term mobile fraction (F3, F4 and F5) and Zn was essentially bound to Fe–Mn oxide phase (F4). Key words: Heavy metal contamination, mining activity, sequential extraction, mine tailings, Marrakech – Morocco. INTRODUCTION The mining industry is an important asset for the economy of many regions across Morocco, particularly with respect to exports and employment, but also through numerous technological developments. Active mining operations must respect governmental environmental criteria. Thus, the introduction of contaminants in the environment is limited to a level considered acceptable by the overseeing governments. Nevertheless, some abandoned / functional mine sites are not well controlled and have significant impacts on the environment (El Adnani et al., 2007). Mining operations generate different types of *Corresponding author. E-mail: yassirbark@yahoo.fr Author(s) agree that this article remain permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License