Various approaches to the chemical analysis of heavy industry process materials and effluents for trace element constituents that might contribute to environmental pollution are summarized. The capabilities and costs of nuclear methods, spark source mass spectrometry, x ray fluorescence and electron microphobe spectrometry, atomic absorption spectrometry, absorption spectrophotometry, atomic emission, spectroscopy, voltammetry (polarography) and potentiometry (ion selective electrodes) for determining traces (less than 100 ppm) of mercury, beryllium, cadmium, arsenic, vanadium, manganese, nickel, antimony, chromium, zinc, copper, lead, selenium, boron, fluorine, lithium, silver, tin, iron, strontium, sodium, potassium, calcium, silicon, magnesium, uranium, and thorium in such matrices as fly ash, coal, oil, ores, minerals, metals, alloys, organometallics, incinerator particulates, slurry streams, and feeds to and from sedimentation processes are assessed.