Rapid industrialization has lead to thermal power plants and non-ferrous metal smelters producing large amounts of heavy metal-containing, air-borne particulate matter in some areas of China. Heavy metal pollutants in the atmosphere cause soil pollution through depositional processes and pose a potential threat to human health. Jiyuan City in Henan Province, China produces about 900,000 tonnes of lead annually. Heavy metal contamination of soil and elevated blood lead levels (BLLs) of local children in Jiyuan have been reported. In order to investigate the depositional fluxes and time variation of heavy dust in the atmosphere around the lead smelting pollution area, atmospheric dust samples were collected for 12 consecutive months near a large lead smelter in Jiyuan City (YG), near an abandoned lead smelter faraway from the lead smelter (JLG), and from a place about 23 km from the smelter as the control (DZ). The average deposition fluxes of Pb, Cd, Cu, Zn and As at YG were 45.0, 1.62, 4.36, 17.52 and 1.61 kg·km^-2·30d^-1, those of JLG were 19.2, 0.382, 1.30, 6.64, 0.789 kg·km^-2·30d^-1, and those of DZ were 11.4, 0.116, 0.633, 2.43 and 0.252 kg·km^-2·30d^-1, respectively. Obvious variations in temporal depositional fluxes were observed for samples from YG, with lower deposition fluxes occurring from May to July and greater depositional fluxes occurring from January to February. These variations may have been due to changes in three factors: 1) rainfall; 2) vegetation; and 3) coal combustion for heating. Winter has less rainfall and ground vegetation and more coal combustion than in summer, thus resulting in greater heavy metal deposition than in summer. Results suggest that lead smelting in Jiyuan resulted in obvious enhancement in heavy metal deposition, with this enhancement predominantly due to fresh deposition from the smelter and to a lesser degree the resuspension of polluted soil particles. The greater depositional flux of JLG compared to the control indicates that soil heavy metals and other environmental components still contribute to air quality degradation even after smelting activity has ceased.