In this study, red mud and phosphorus gypsum is compared with Portland cent (PC), red mud-fly ash etc. in immobilizing copper, lead and zinc. Copper, lead and zinc-doped pastes and mortars were prepared with a metal to binder ratio at 1%. Samples were cured for 7d, 14d and 28d. The unconfined compressive strength (UCS), leachate pH and the leachate concentrations of copper, lead and zinc were measured and analyzed. The UCS results show that red mud-phosphogypsum treated samples produce higher strength than these treated by red mud-fly ash, and PC. The results of TCLP tests revealed that the immobilisation degree of these pastes depend on their leachate pH. The leachate pH of red mud-phosphogypsum pastes is ~ 6, hence the concentrations of lead, copper and zinc leached from red mud-based binders cannot meet the China Ministry of Environment Protection (MEP) regulatory limit at 100mg/L, 100mg/L and 5mg/L, respectively. The additional quicklime or PC is able to increase the leachate pH. It is noted that the leachate concentrations of copper, lead and zinc from red mud-phosphorus gypsum-cement pastes are much lower than that of the China Ministry of Environment Protection (MEP) regulatory limit. With the increase of the curing time, the unconfined compressive strength and the leaching concentrations of these pastes showed a slightly increasing trend.