Field portable x-ray fluorescence (FPXRF) has been used as a tool in the environmental industry to characterize metals contaminated soils for about 10 years. Initially, due to the level of sophistication of the equipment (ambient temperature detectors and empirical calibration spectral processing), and the complexity of soil matrices, it was generally believed that the instrumentation could only produce semiquantitative data. As the level of instrument sophistication increased (cooled solid-state detectors and Fundamental Parameters), that perception of FPXRF changed. However, not all users have access to the latest, state-of-the-art instrumentation. Work performed at Leadville, Colorado provides an example of how properly used older instrumentation can produce data of good quality (Kuharic, et al., 1993).