Among the released chemical contaminants into water bodies, lead and cadmium are extremely harmful to living things. The humic substances, due to their complex molecular structure that comprises both aliphatic and aromatic moieties as well as carboxylic, phenolic and ether groups are effective adsorbents for organic pollutants and metals. In this context, the main objective of this study was to evaluate the potential of humic acid (HA), extracted from previously oxidized coal, as adsorbent for lead and cadmium in aqueous solutions and determine the kinetic and thermodynamic parameters of the process. HA was extracted from a coal sample, collected in the mining area of the State of Santa Catarina, previously oxidized with HNO3 concentrated in reflux conditions, according to the methodology recommended by the IHSS. The HA obtained was characterized by elemental analysis techniques, FTRI, thermogravimetric analysis and SEM. The characterization results were similar to those reported in the literature. Adsorption experiments were carried out for each cation in different pH levels, and from this evaluation it was determined the value of pH at 5. The adsorption experiments with a variation of the initial concentration of cations were performed separately for each metal by employing the following conditions: 50 ml of a cation solution (0 to 100 mg L-1), 50 mg of HA, mechanical agitation (175 rpm) and constant temperature (25 Celsius degrees). After 24 hours, the system was centrifuged and the concentration of each metal in the supernatant was determined by atomic absorption spectrometry (AA). The isotherms obtained for Pb and Cd showed a L-shaped curve, indicating that the available sorptive sites on HA tending to a saturation point. Compared maximum adsorption capacity for Pb was higher (77mg g-1) than that shown for Cd (12mg g- 1). This fact indicates a higher affinity the adsorption sites of HA for Pb. Comparatively, adsorption experiments were performed with HA Leonardite (standard IHSS) and oxidized coal. For the determination of the thermodynamic parameters, adsorption experiments were performed at three different temperatures (15, 25, 35 Celsius Degrees). The adsorption process is endothermic nature, with a value of enthalpy of 7.86 kJ mol-1 and a value of entropy 80.54 mol-1 K-1. The adsorption kinetics follows a kinetic model of the pseudo-second-order with rate constants 0.065 g mg-1 min-1 and 0.025 mg g-1 min-1 for Pb (Co 17.60 mg L-1) and Cd ( Co 6.41 mg L-1), respectively. The results obtained in this study show that the coal HA can optionally be employed for removing heavy metals from aqueous media, but studies for their potential should however be realized.