Abandoned mines in Lake County, Colorado

1. Mine openings

   shafts, adits, air shafts, portals and vertical openings: the ways into underground workings
   725 19.7%
2. Prospect pits and trenches

   shallow exploration diggings that never became a mine
   2,796 76.0%
3. Mines and surface workings

   labelled mines, open pits, strip mines, placer and hydraulic workings
   13 0.4%
4. Quarries, gravel and borrow pits

   construction-material and industrial-mineral extraction
   21 0.6%
5. Dumps, tailings, spoil and gob

   what mining left above ground
   121 3.3%
6. Mills, tipples and facilities

   processing plants and hazardous structures
   1 0.0%

A name is the label printed beside the symbol on the map. "First mapped" is the earliest topographic edition that shows the symbol, which bounds the feature's age from above; it is not the date it was worked. Unnamed features (most prospect pits, adits and shafts carry no label) are in the counts above but not this list.

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.

1. 50-3-16 Cedarapids 2540 Jaw Crusher

   Surface metal/non-metal · ACA Products, Inc. · MSHA ID 0505001
   Abandoned 2018-10-23
2. ALPS JUNCTION QUARRY

   Surface metal/non-metal · Leadville Research & Development Corp · MSHA ID 0504563
   Abandoned 2018-10-23
3. Amity

   Underground metal/non-metal · Windsor Resources (Us) Ltd · MSHA ID 0503863
   Abandoned 1985-07-03
4. Apache Pyrite Joint Venture Mill

   Facility metal/non-metal · Apache Energy & Minerals · MSHA ID 0502812
   Abandoned 1989-05-02
5. Arkansas Pit

   Surface metal/non-metal · C Ryan & Son Inc · MSHA ID 0500955
   Abandoned 1978-06-19
6. Big Four Tunnel

   Underground metal/non-metal · Highland Consolidated Mining Corp · MSHA ID 0504230
   Abandoned 1987-09-23
7. BLACK CLOUD MINE - LEADVILLE UNI

   Underground metal/non-metal · Asarco Inc · MSHA ID 0500516
   Abandoned 2000-10-10
8. Box Creek Mine

   Surface metal/non-metal · Yellow Eagle Mining Inc · MSHA ID 0504437
   Abandoned 1992-07-16
9. Climax Mill

   Facility metal/non-metal · Climax Molybdenum Company · MSHA ID 0502337
   Abandoned 1987-11-20
10. Climax Underground

    Underground metal/non-metal · Climax Molybdenum Company · MSHA ID 0500354
    Abandoned 2012-01-30
11. Continental Chief

    Underground metal/non-metal · Norsigo Processing & Refining Ltd · MSHA ID 0500534
    Abandoned 1985-04-23
12. Diamond Shaft

    Underground metal/non-metal · Leadville Corp · MSHA ID 0503883
    Abandoned 1993-03-19
13. Fay/Tnt #4

    Underground metal/non-metal · Union Carbide Corp · MSHA ID 0503743
    Abandoned 1983-12-14
14. Granite Mine

    Underground metal/non-metal · American Gold Resources Corp · MSHA ID 0504080
    Abandoned 1986-08-25
15. HOPEMORE MINE

    Underground metal/non-metal · Leadville Mining & Milling Corp · MSHA ID 0504055
    Abandoned 2018-11-07
16. IRON HAT QUARRY

    Surface metal/non-metal · Leadville Research & Development Corp · MSHA ID 0504652
    Abandoned 2000-08-14
17. Jones Pit

    Surface metal/non-metal · Climax Molybdenum Company · MSHA ID 0502752
    Abandoned 1982-10-06
18. Katie Maggy Mae

    Surface metal/non-metal · Tvk Mining Inc · MSHA ID 0504426
    Abandoned 1991-06-13
19. LEADVILLE CUSTOM MILL

    Facility metal/non-metal · Leadville Mining & Milling Corp · MSHA ID 0504339
    Abandoned 2000-08-14
20. Leadville Mill

    Facility metal/non-metal · Union Milling Contractors, LLC · MSHA ID 0504992
    Abandoned 2014-12-03
21. Leadville Research & Development Corp Mi

    Facility metal/non-metal · Leadville Research & Development Corp · MSHA ID 0504064
    Abandoned 1989-02-28
22. Portable Plant #1

    Surface metal/non-metal · Berthods Inc · MSHA ID 0504240
    Abandoned 1989-09-21
23. Portable Plant No 2

    Facility metal/non-metal · Berthods Inc · MSHA ID 0504256
    Abandoned 1988-09-29
24. Power Screen

    Surface metal/non-metal · Environmental Restoration LLC · MSHA ID 0504727
    Abandoned 2003-09-08
25. President

    Underground metal/non-metal · Windsor Resources (Us) Ltd · MSHA ID 0503862
    Abandoned 1985-03-26
26. Printer Boy Mine

    Underground metal/non-metal · Starlite Associates Inc · MSHA ID 0503827
    Abandoned 1988-09-06
27. Ready Cash Mine

    Underground metal/non-metal · William D Clark · MSHA ID 0503712
    Abandoned 1985-04-23
28. Resurrection No 2 Shaft

    Underground metal/non-metal · C & S Mining Company · MSHA ID 0501603
    Abandoned 1982-04-28
29. Rossi Tunnel

    Underground metal/non-metal · Bellhouses Mines Inc · MSHA ID 0502638
    Abandoned 1981-01-12
30. Sherman Mine

    Underground metal/non-metal · Leadville Corp · MSHA ID 0500604
    Abandoned 1989-02-16
31. St Kevin

    Underground metal/non-metal · Leadville Silver & Gold Inc · MSHA ID 0503609
    Abandoned 1989-07-11
32. Starr Placer

    Facility metal/non-metal · J & K Associates Inc · MSHA ID 0504229
    Abandoned 1987-12-02
33. Stringtown Mill

    Facility metal/non-metal · Leadville Corp · MSHA ID 0502267
    Abandoned 1990-06-24
34. Thomas & Anthony

    Underground metal/non-metal · Windsor Resources (Us) Ltd · MSHA ID 0503864
    Abandoned 1984-09-21
35. WEST TENNESSEE PIT

    Surface metal/non-metal · Webster Sand & Gravel, LLC · MSHA ID 0503489
    Abandoned 2023-11-06

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

• San Juan County 3,913
• Gunnison County 2,703
• Saguache County 2,319
• San Miguel County 2,242
• Gilpin County 2,148
• Montrose County 2,077
• Custer County 2,062
• Clear Creek County 1,996
• Park County 1,624
• Chaffee County 1,486
• Summit County 1,449
• Boulder County 1,083

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.