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The purpose of the present research is to determine the extent of the mining and processing impact on the environment after the gold-extraction using mosses Polytricum commune. The moss samples were collected from the near-root zone of trees in the territory adjacent to tailings of closed deposits in Kemerovo region (Ursk and Komsomolsk tailings) in Russia. The samples were investigated by the mass spectrometry with inductively coupled plasma. The analytical results showed that the mosses near the tailings accumulated high amounts of some chemical elements, such as As, Se, Ag, Sb, Ba, Au, Hg, Pb, and Bi near the Ursk tailing dump and As, Sb and Au near the Komsomolsk tailing pond. The range of these chemical elements reflects the composition of the extracted sulfide ores. The mosses near the tailing pond have lower concentrations of metals. This fact is explained by the weak dust emissions from the tailing pond. These results testify about the high influence of mining and processing wastes after the end of the deposit exploitation. The dust particles containing metals pollute the environment and as consequence make a negative impact on the human health. These findings should be taken into account for the development of nature-protecting measures.