In metal mining areas, mine tailings, as an accessory product, are usually stored in a big tailings dump, destroying original vegetations and seriously damaging ecological systems To restore vegetations over metal mine tailings is very difficult because they are often high in heavy metal concentrat ion, low in nutrient content and small in water retention capacity Pot experiments were conducted to investigate effects of application of natural montmorillonite and zeolite as amendments to mine tailings on ryegrass growth and uptake of Cu and Zn in this paper The results indicate that the biomass of the ground part of ryegrass did not change much but its root weight changed with the applicat ion of the two clays, respectively Chemical fertilizer was extremely necessary for ryegrass growth in the mine tailings Application of montmorillonite decreased available Zn in the mine tailings, but did not affect much available Cu; application of zeolite significantly decreased both available Cu and Zn in the mine tailings The pHs of the mine tailings decreased with the application, but did not correlate with the change in available Cu and Zn in the mine tailings Copper and Zn concentrations in ryegrass root decreased with the application of the clays However, application of montmorillonite increased Cu uptake but did not affect Zn uptake of the ground part of ryegrass in the first and the second harvest Application of zeolite did not change the Cu and Zn concentrations in the ground part of ryegrass, either.