The pool of environmental resistance genes, known as the resistome, provides an arsenal of genes that bacteria may acquire to resist chemical stressors. Antibiotics in clinical settings are a well-established example of this, however in many environments such as freshwater sediments, heavy metals dominate as a selective pressure. Metals are suspected to play a role in the co-selection of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), although the molecular mechanisms underpinning this phenomenon are unclear. Here, we aimed to understand the relationships of ARGs, metal resistance genes (MRGs), and the mobile genetic elements (MGEs) that carry these, with emphasis on the plasmidome, that is the overall plasmid population. Sediment bacteria resistant to zinc, cadmium, or copper were isolated from sediments in the Lake Macquarie region, which are impacted by metal contamination as a legacy of coal burning and smelting in the area. The resultant strain collection of 88 unique isolates was taxonomically diverse but dominated by the orders Streptomycetales, Micrococcales, Hyphomicrobiales and Burkholderiales. Genome sequencing these isolates revealed novel combinations of MRGs and ARGs, including zinc, cadmium, copper, arsenic, cobalt, chromium, lead, mercury and nickel resistance, and aminoglycoside, aminocoumarin, beta-lactam, fluoroquinolone, glycopeptide, macrolide, and phenicol resistance. 24 novel resistance plasmids were identified, assigned to hosts and annotated in detail. Isolates Ensifer adhaerens, Sphingomonas hankookensis, Bradyrhizobium guangxiense, Methylobacterium radiotolerans, and Pigmentiphaga litoralis displayed phenotypic antimicrobial tolerance in addition to their highly metal tolerant profile. Curing using acridine orange and heat stress substantially reduced zinc tolerance for S hankookensis and zinc, kanamycin, neomycin, chloramphenicol, nalidixic acid and trimethoprim for E adhaerens implicating plasmid bound resistance genes. Plasmid targeted PCR confirmed loss of the resistance plasmid. Non-culturable approaches obtained a distinct group of smaller plasmids possessing resistance genes to tetracyclines, chloramphenicol, aminoglycosides, and metals, which would have otherwise been missed by direct culture. We have obtained evidence for the presence of diverse metal resistant bacteria and novel combinations of resistance genes and MGEs in sediments impacted by industrial activities; further analysis of this isolate collection aims to establish whether environmental metals are co-selecting for ARGs, thus informing One Health approaches to tackling the problem of resistance.