Abandoned mine tailings are a plausible source of environmental pollution.  For example, heavy metals in mine tailings may be transported in the environment through leaching and eolian and water erosion.  One approach to remediation of these sites is phytostabilisation or the establishment of a vegetative cap.  The objectives of our experiments were to evaluate the biomass production and above-and below-ground metal (Pb, Zn, Cd, As) uptake of native desert plants grown in mine tailings of different pH and metal concentrations.  The mine tailings were collected from an abandoned tailing impoundment in eastern AZ.  Tailings one had a pH of 4.5 and total Pb of 5,600 µg/g, and tailings two had a pH of 6.4 and total Pb of 13,700 µg/g.  Two experiments were conducted in a greenhouse.  These experiments included testing growth of seven desert annual and perennial plant species in two tailings of differing pH and metal concentration with varying amounts of compost amendment.  In both experiments biomass production was higher in tailings one than in tailings two.  We measured higher metal concentrations (Pb, Cd, Zn, As, Cu, Mn) in plants grown in tailings two than tailings one, and all below-ground biomass had higher metal concentrations than did above-ground biomass.   Biomass production in both tailings increased with compost rate and no plant growth occurred in tailings two without compost addition.  These results show that establishment of native plants on acidic metalliferous mine tailings is possible, is tailings dependent, and but may require compost amendment.