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Abandoned mines › Colorado
Abandoned mine inventory

Abandoned mines in Adams County, Colorado

Adams County, Colorado has 119 mine and prospect features on USGS topographic maps published 1949–1994, including 2 mine openings (shafts, adits and air shafts) and 1 prospect pits. OSMRE's abandoned mine land inventory lists 1 problems in the county, 1 of them not yet reclaimed. MSHA's register carries 58 mines in the county with status Abandoned or Abandoned and Sealed.

Every mine and prospect feature the USGS digitized from historical topographic maps covering Adams County, every OSMRE abandoned mine land problem in the county, and every MSHA-registered mine here with status Abandoned. Named features are listed below; unnamed ones are counted by type. Locations are deliberately not shown: this page says what abandoned workings are in the county, not where to find them. They are dangerous and should not be entered.

Mapped mine features (USGS)
119
Mine openings
2
OSMRE problems unreclaimed
1
MSHA mines marked abandoned
58
0 features carry a name1 prospect pits13 quadrangle maps, published 1949–1994 1 OSMRE problems, 0 reclaimed 0 MSHA mines abandoned and sealed
What the features are
  1. Mine openings
    shafts, adits, air shafts, portals and vertical openings: the ways into underground workings
    3 2.5%
  2. Prospect pits and trenches
    shallow exploration diggings that never became a mine
    1 0.8%
  3. Mines and surface workings
    labelled mines, open pits, strip mines, placer and hydraulic workings
    4 3.3%
  4. Quarries, gravel and borrow pits
    construction-material and industrial-mineral extraction
    112 93.3%
OSMRE abandoned mine land problems1 on inventory
Problem area Problem Status
Adams - Non-coal-county-wide P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Pending

Problem types carry OSMRE's priority prefix: P1 and P2 are threats to health, safety and property, P3 is environmental. A problem area is a cluster of problems reclaimed as one project; several rows can share one location.

MSHA-registered mines with status Abandoned58 on register
  1. Adams Plant
    Surface metal/non-metal · Mobile Premix Sand & Gravel Company · MSHA ID 0501029
    Abandoned
  2. Adams Transit Mix
    Surface metal/non-metal · Adams Transit Mix Corp · MSHA ID 0500927
    Abandoned
  3. Albert Frei & Sons Pit #4
    Surface metal/non-metal · Albert Frei & Sons Inc · MSHA ID 0503659
    Abandoned
  4. Albert Frei & Sons Pit #8
    Surface metal/non-metal · Albert Frei & Sons Inc · MSHA ID 0504483
    Abandoned
  5. AMES PORTABLE UNIT # 4
    Surface metal/non-metal · Ames Construction Inc · MSHA ID 0504561
    Abandoned
  6. Bennett Alluvial
    Surface metal/non-metal · Martin Marietta Materials Inc · MSHA ID 0500929
    Abandoned
  7. Big R Henderson Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Big R Construction Company Inc · MSHA ID 0504381
    Abandoned
  8. Brannan Pit #10
    Surface metal/non-metal · Brannan Sand & Gravel Company · MSHA ID 0502361
    Abandoned
  9. Brannon Pit #5
    Surface metal/non-metal · Brannan Sand & Gravel Company · MSHA ID 0500939
    Abandoned
  10. Brighton Plant
    Surface metal/non-metal · Aggregate Industries WCR Inc · MSHA ID 0504258
    Abandoned
  11. Brighton Plant
    Surface metal/non-metal · Front Range Aggregates LLC · MSHA ID 0504810
    Abandoned
  12. BRIGHTON PLANT
    Surface metal/non-metal · Camas Colorado Inc · MSHA ID 0504471
    Abandoned
  13. Brighton Quarry
    Surface metal/non-metal · Brighton Sand & Gravel · MSHA ID 0504390
    Abandoned
  14. Bromley Lakes
    Surface metal/non-metal · Ready Mixed Concrete Company · MSHA ID 0504312
    Abandoned
  15. Clear Creek
    Surface metal/non-metal · Siegrist Construction Company · MSHA ID 0504203
    Abandoned
  16. Colorado Sand & Gravel Company
    Surface metal/non-metal · Colorado Sand & Gravel Company · MSHA ID 0503789
    Abandoned
  17. Commerce City Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Colowyo Improvement Company · MSHA ID 0503293
    Abandoned
  18. Consolidated Rock Pit&Plant
    Surface metal/non-metal · Consolidated Rock Company · MSHA ID 0502639
    Abandoned
  19. County Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Adams County-Public Works · MSHA ID 0503292
    Abandoned
  20. Dahlia Plant
    Surface metal/non-metal · Cooley Gravel Company · MSHA ID 0504487
    Abandoned
  21. Debetz Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Adams County Highway Department/Public Works · MSHA ID 0503045
    Abandoned
  22. DEBETZ PIT
    Surface metal/non-metal · Adams County-Public Works · MSHA ID 0504215
    Abandoned
  23. Federal Mill
    Facility metal/non-metal · Paul E. Danio · MSHA ID 0504994
    Abandoned
  24. GEOCAST
    Surface metal/non-metal · Energy Technologies Group Inc · MSHA ID 0504662
    Abandoned
  25. GOLD CAMP 3
    Surface metal/non-metal · Pink Misty Minerals and Gems LLC · MSHA ID 0505190
    Abandoned
  26. Goose Haven Adams County Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Goose Haven Sand & Gravel Inc · MSHA ID 0504108
    Abandoned
  27. Hazeltine/Road Runners Rest II
    Surface metal/non-metal · Cruise & Associates LLC · MSHA ID 0503658
    Abandoned
  28. Hazeltine/Road Runners Rest II
    Surface metal/non-metal · Black Sand Reclamation, LLC · MSHA ID 0505006
    Abandoned
  29. Henderson Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Aggregate Ventures LLC · MSHA ID 0504787
    Abandoned
  30. Howe Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Lafarge West Incorporated · MSHA ID 0504099
    Abandoned
  31. JONES FINE SAND
    Surface metal/non-metal · Carl Palizzi Inc · MSHA ID 0500997
    Abandoned
  32. Kilker-Eppinger Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Colorado Department Of Highways · MSHA ID 0503449
    Abandoned
  33. Kramer South Site
    Surface metal/non-metal · Fiore & Sons, Inc · MSHA ID 0505011
    Abandoned
  34. Mann Lake Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Lafarge West Incorporated · MSHA ID 0503453
    Abandoned
  35. Northern Portable Plant #18
    Surface metal/non-metal · Lafarge West Incorporated · MSHA ID 0501057
    Abandoned
  36. Pacific Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Siegrist Construction Company · MSHA ID 0503785
    Abandoned
  37. Pinewood Or Pinewood Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Colorado Sand & Gravel Company · MSHA ID 0503682
    Abandoned
  38. PIT 1
    Surface metal/non-metal · Albert Frei & Sons Inc · MSHA ID 0504396
    Abandoned
  39. Pit No 20
    Surface metal/non-metal · Brannan Sand & Gravel Company · MSHA ID 0503536
    Abandoned
  40. Platte Valley Sand & Gravel
    Surface metal/non-metal · Platte Valley Sand & Gravel Co · MSHA ID 0502646
    Abandoned
  41. PORTABLE CRUSHER #2
    Surface metal/non-metal · Dillon Construction · MSHA ID 0503835
    Abandoned
  42. Portable Crushing Plant #5
    Surface metal/non-metal · Southway Construction Co. Inc. · MSHA ID 0504110
    Abandoned
  43. Portable Placer #1
    Surface metal/non-metal · Flag Inc · MSHA ID 0504401
    Abandoned
  44. Portable Wash Plant
    Surface metal/non-metal · Cat Construction, Inc. · MSHA ID 0504747
    Abandoned
  45. Ready Mixed Concrete Co Pit No 1
    Surface metal/non-metal · Ready Mixed Concrete Company · MSHA ID 0500925
    Abandoned
  46. Rio Grande S/3
    Surface metal/non-metal · Rio Grande Company-Sand & Gravel Div · MSHA ID 0501043
    Abandoned
  47. Riverdale Sand & Gravel Incorporated
    Surface metal/non-metal · Riverdale Sand & Gravel Inc · MSHA ID 0504078
    Abandoned
  48. Sand Creek Farm
    Surface metal/non-metal · Kelley Trucking Inc. · MSHA ID 0505202
    Abandoned
  49. Sand Creek Mine
    Surface metal/non-metal · Carl Palizzi Inc · MSHA ID 0505072
    Abandoned
  50. Schmitt Reddimix
    Surface metal/non-metal · Schmitt Reddimix · MSHA ID 0504233
    Abandoned
  51. Speer Development Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · J Thoms Construction Company Inc · MSHA ID 0502677
    Abandoned
  52. Strong Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Strong Bros Excavating Inc · MSHA ID 0503094
    Abandoned
  53. T P T Land Co
    Surface metal/non-metal · T P T Land Company · MSHA ID 0503416
    Abandoned
  54. THORNTON PLANT
    Surface metal/non-metal · Aggregate Industries WCR Inc · MSHA ID 0503301
    Abandoned
  55. Tucson Plant
    Surface metal/non-metal · Aggregate Industries WCR Inc · MSHA ID 0504665
    Abandoned
  56. TUCSON RESOURCES
    Surface metal/non-metal · Hall-Irwin Construction Company · MSHA ID 0504533
    Abandoned
  57. Worthing Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Kilgroe-Atchison Construction & Paving · MSHA ID 0501999
    Abandoned
  58. Zigan Sand And Gravel Pit 2
    Surface metal/non-metal · Zigan Sand & Gravel Inc · MSHA ID 0503553
    Abandoned

Status and date are as reported to MSHA by the operator. Each mine's own page carries its accident, citation and inspection record.

By source vocabularythe publishers' own terms
Feature type Features
Gravel Pit 75
Gravel Pit 32
Disturbed Surface 4
Sand Pit 3
Mine Shaft 2
Prospect Pit 1
P1 Vertical Openings 1
Borrow Pit 1
Sand Pit 1
Other counties in ColoradoAll counties →
How to read these numbers

A USGS feature is a symbol on a historical topographic map, there when the map was surveyed; it may since have been sealed, reclaimed, built over or reopened as a working mine, and the map does not say which. An OSMRE row is a problem the abandoned mine land program tracks, not a mine. An MSHA mine is a registered operation whose operator reported abandonment, a record that starts in the 1970s. The three overlap and are never added together. The county is assigned from each feature's coordinates against the Census 2023 county boundaries. The full method is on the national page.

Sources
  1. USGS, Consolidated Prospect- and Mine-Related Features from 7.5- and 15-Minute Topographic Quadrangle Maps of the United States (USMIN)
    597,612 point and area features digitized from about 106,350 historical topographic maps published 1886–2006; public domain (CC0). A feature is a map symbol, not a field-verified site, and the map does not say whether it was still worked.
  2. USGS Fact Sheet 2025–3003, The Abandoned Mine Inventory of the United States
    States that as of 2025 there is no comprehensive national inventory of abandoned mine features, and that the detailed national database now being built will not be published.
  3. OSMRE, Abandoned Mine Land Inventory System (e-AMLIS), public Problems layer
    One row per abandoned mine land problem in a problem area, with its type, funding program and reclamation status; mostly coal mined before the 1977 Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act. Coordinates are the problem area's.
  4. MSHA, Mines dataset (Mine Data Retrieval System)
    Every mine registered with MSHA since the 1970s; a mine reads Abandoned or Abandoned and Sealed when its operator reported that status. Refreshed weekly.
  5. US Census Bureau, 2023 cartographic county boundaries (1:500,000)
    Each feature's county is assigned by its coordinates against these boundaries, not copied from the source file.
  6. GAO-20-238, Abandoned Hardrock Mines (March 2020)
    Federal agencies had identified at least 140,000 abandoned hardrock mine features on federal land and estimated more than 390,000 more not yet captured in their databases.
  7. Abandoned Hardrock Mine Reclamation (AHMR) Program, US Department of the Interior
    The program the USGS inventory is compiled for. Its appropriations and the 674,000 field-confirmed feature count on this page were provided by the program manager, Office of Environmental Policy and Compliance, and are cited with permission (2026-09-08).
  8. IMCC-NAAMLP Hardrock AML Report
    Page 48 carries the two figures this page leans on: USGS estimates 633,181 of the 725,690 mine features it recorded from historic topographic maps, 87 percent, are hardrock; and state and federal agencies have submitted more than 724,000 AML features to the national database being built, already more than the historic maps hold. Year-by-year AHMR funding is on page 35.