BACKGROUND: Consensus of heavy metal phytoavailability in soils needs to be introduced for soil management protocols in relation to safer food production in the contaminated agricultural soils. For this, setting up the method for evaluation of metal phytoavailability in soil is an essential prerequisite. METHODS AND RESULTS: The current study was carried to select a proper single extraction method for determination of phytoavailable metal concentration in soil. Two extraction methods were examined including 1 M $NH_4NO_3$ extraction and 0.01 M $Ca(NO_3)_2$ extraction methods using 142 soil samples collected from the agricultural soils nearby abandoned mining area in Korea. Corelation analysis was conducted between phytoavailable metal concentrations and soil properties potentially influencing on the metal phytoavailability. Both methods showed similar significance (p<0.001) in correlation with soil properties such as soil pH. However, higher correlation coefficients between phytoavailable metal concentrations and soil properties were observed when used $Ca(NO_3)_2$ extraction rather than using $NH_4NO_3$ extraction. CONCLUSION(S): It appeared that 0.01 M $Ca(NO_3)_2$ extraction was better option for determination of phytoavailable metals in soils and further study to test the efficiency of this method is required in combination with plant uptake.