Within a hyper-centralised economy, the environment has been 'seriously harmed' from the point of view of landscape and polluting elements as waste-rock is spread over a wide area. Topographic surveys are required to re-integrate waste-rock into the natural cycle. They are the starting point of environment projects in agreement with nature and scenery. In this context, the waste-rock relief, its surface and the chemical composition have to be known in order to be able to act through methods and means that are specific to each particular type of waste-rock. The paper aims at two important objectives: to assess the heavy metal soil contamination in the Zlatna area (Romania) and to suggest the required topographic surveys to re-integrate waste-rock into the natural cycle.