Abstract: Taking groundwater of a mining area in central Hunan as the research object, concentrations of 15 heavy metals in 14 monitoring wells in the mining area were monitored and analyzed. The results show that As, Sb, Co, Fe and Mn concentrations in the groundwater were 14.3%, 64.3%, 50.0%, 10.7% and 14.3% greater than the standards of GB/T 14848-2017 and GB 3838-2002 respectively, with the maximum concentrations of 5.4, 30.4, 0.9, 34.0 and 18.3 times of the standards. The significantly greater concentrations of Sb indicated that the pollution of Sb in the groundwater is the most serious. The results of the pollution assessment show that the proportion of heavy pollution of the groundwater in the mining area was 78.5% in dry season, while the proportion of heavy pollution was 50% in the wet season. The possible health risk of the polluated groundwater to local inhabitants were assessed based on the the groundwater health risk assessment model. The results show that the health risk of the polluted groundwater was mainly from As, Sb and Co via consumption. The carcinogenic risk value of As via consumption was in the range of 1.08×10^-3-2.89×10^-3, which far exceeded the limit for acceptable maximum carcinogenic risk level. The maximum non-carcinogenic hazard quotient of As, Sb and Co were 1.48×10², 89.2, 69.0, respectively, all above the acceptable level, which can be harmful to the health of the local sensitive population through drinking groundwater.