A three-week investigation is to try to determine whether heavy metal contamination at the site of a former Cornish tin mine could pose a risk.
Specialists will drill boreholes to monitor groundwater and take soil samples at the Wheal Maid tailings lagoon at Gwennap, near Redruth.
The Wheal Maid site was used during the 1970s and 1980s and has two lagoons and three dams.
Material from both Mount Wellington and Wheal Jane mines was tipped there.
The investigation will also take samples from the St Day stream, and a CCTV survey of will be carried of the Wheal Maid stream which flows through a 1.2m (4ft) concrete pipe under the site.
Joe Ryan from the Environment Agency said: "There have been concerns about this site and our investigation will confirm whether the mine waste is a risk to people using the area and if it is polluting the Wheal Maid stream."
The Environment Agency is urging walkers and cyclists to keep off the 10 hectare (24 acre) site during the investigation because of danger from lorries and other equipment.
The investigation will start on 29 January. A wider study will be completed in April.
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