Mining Incidents
Search Operators Mines Alerts Research Controllers Fatalgrams About
Countries
Peru Chile
English Español
Abandoned mines › Colorado
Abandoned mine inventory

Abandoned mines in Pueblo County, Colorado

Pueblo County, Colorado has 119 mine and prospect features on USGS topographic maps published 1960–1998, including 8 mine openings (shafts, adits and air shafts) and 17 prospect pits; 2 of the features carry a name on the map. OSMRE's abandoned mine land inventory lists 1 problems in the county, 1 of them not yet reclaimed. MSHA's register carries 57 mines in the county with status Abandoned or Abandoned and Sealed.

Every mine and prospect feature the USGS digitized from historical topographic maps covering Pueblo 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
8
OSMRE problems unreclaimed
1
MSHA mines marked abandoned
57
2 features carry a name17 prospect pits25 quadrangle maps, published 1960–1998 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
    9 7.5%
  2. Prospect pits and trenches
    shallow exploration diggings that never became a mine
    17 14.2%
  3. Mines and surface workings
    labelled mines, open pits, strip mines, placer and hydraulic workings
    11 9.2%
  4. Quarries, gravel and borrow pits
    construction-material and industrial-mineral extraction
    81 67.5%
  5. Dumps, tailings, spoil and gob
    what mining left above ground
    2 1.7%
Named features on the maps2 named · from the USGS compilation
Name on map Feature
Slag Dump Slag Pile area
Slag Dump Slag Pile area

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.

OSMRE abandoned mine land problems1 on inventory
Problem area Problem Status
Pueblo - 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 Abandoned57 on register
  1. A P Green Refractories
    Facility metal/non-metal · A P Green Refractories Inc · MSHA ID 0502622
    Abandoned
  2. Ary Airport Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · J P Materials · MSHA ID 0504548
    Abandoned
  3. Boone Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Martin Sand & Gravel · MSHA ID 0504201
    Abandoned
  4. Buffalo Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · John Cullen Rock Crushing & Gravel · MSHA ID 0503488
    Abandoned
  5. Buffalo Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · John Cullen Rock Crushing · MSHA ID 0503989
    Abandoned
  6. Bulman Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Pueblo County Road & Bridge Department · MSHA ID 0504159
    Abandoned
  7. Burnt River Mine & Mill
    Surface metal/non-metal · American Materials Inc · MSHA ID 0504189
    Abandoned
  8. Burnt River Quarry
    Surface metal/non-metal · American Materials Inc · MSHA ID 0504340
    Abandoned
  9. Cedarwood Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Red Mountain Clay · MSHA ID 0500213
    Abandoned
  10. Chamblin No 2
    Underground metal/non-metal · Denver Brick & Pipe Company · MSHA ID 0500197
    Abandoned
  11. Chantala
    Surface metal/non-metal · Broderick & Gibbons Inc · MSHA ID 0500947
    Abandoned
  12. Crushing Operation #2
    Surface metal/non-metal · Kirkland Construction LLLP · MSHA ID 0504709
    Abandoned
  13. Crushing Operation #3
    Surface metal/non-metal · Kirkland Construction · MSHA ID 0504728
    Abandoned
  14. Dodge Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Colorado City-Metropolitan District · MSHA ID 0504160
    Abandoned
  15. Edmundson Clay Mine
    Surface metal/non-metal · Summit Pressed Brick & Tile Company · MSHA ID 0504492
    Abandoned
  16. EVANS PIT
    Surface metal/non-metal · Western Mobile Southern Inc · MSHA ID 0504676
    Abandoned
  17. FOX #1
    Surface metal/non-metal · Summit Brick & Tile Company · MSHA ID 0500202
    Abandoned
  18. Grant Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · John Cullen Rock Crushing & Gravel · MSHA ID 0504420
    Abandoned
  19. HARTMAN PIT
    Surface metal/non-metal · Western Mobile Southern Inc · MSHA ID 0504671
    Abandoned
  20. Highberger #1
    Surface metal/non-metal · Colorado Department Of Highways · MSHA ID 0503346
    Abandoned
  21. Highberger #2
    Surface metal/non-metal · Colorado Department Of Highways · MSHA ID 0503347
    Abandoned
  22. Hillside Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Pioneer Paving Co · MSHA ID 0503600
    Abandoned
  23. Hobson Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Castle Concrete Company · MSHA ID 0503232
    Abandoned
  24. Impact Crusher
    Surface metal/non-metal · Rocky Mountain Materials & Asphalt, Inc · MSHA ID 0504950
    Abandoned
  25. Kirkland Crushing & Screening (A)
    Surface metal/non-metal · Kirkland Construction · MSHA ID 0504924
    Abandoned
  26. Koury's Quarry
    Surface metal/non-metal · Koury Real Property LLC · MSHA ID 0504916
    Abandoned
  27. Mclaughlin-Banber Stringer
    Surface metal/non-metal · Colorado Department Of Highways · MSHA ID 0503348
    Abandoned
  28. Metso ST4-8
    Surface metal/non-metal · Rocky Mountain Landscape Materials, LLC · MSHA ID 0504969
    Abandoned
  29. MPRC Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Tug Hill Construction, Inc. · MSHA ID 0504839
    Abandoned
  30. Mt Shadow Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Southway Const Co Inc & Asphalt Gravel Prod Inc · MSHA ID 0503523
    Abandoned
  31. Nellie Helen West Clay Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Colorado Fire Clay Co · MSHA ID 0500193
    Abandoned
  32. Nepesta Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Pueblo County Road & Bridge Department · MSHA ID 0504157
    Abandoned
  33. Occhiato-Gersick
    Surface metal/non-metal · Colorado Department Of Highways · MSHA ID 0503349
    Abandoned
  34. Peek Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Peek Sand & Gravel · MSHA ID 0502615
    Abandoned
  35. Pegson Crusher
    Surface metal/non-metal · Tony J Beltramo & Sons Inc · MSHA ID 0504473
    Abandoned
  36. Pheasant Run Gravel Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Centennial State Paving, Inc · MSHA ID 0504895
    Abandoned
  37. PORTABLE #1
    Surface metal/non-metal · Alpine Aggregate Inc · MSHA ID 0504374
    Abandoned
  38. Portable Conveyor Plant P11-6610
    Surface metal/non-metal · Colorado Department Of Highways · MSHA ID 0504292
    Abandoned
  39. Portable Conveyor Plant P11-6611
    Surface metal/non-metal · Colorado Department Of Highways · MSHA ID 0503408
    Abandoned
  40. Portable Conveyor Plant P11-6631
    Surface metal/non-metal · Colorado Department Of Highways · MSHA ID 0504293
    Abandoned
  41. PORTABLE SCREENING & CRUSHING
    Surface metal/non-metal · Pueblo County Public Works · MSHA ID 0504158
    Abandoned
  42. PUEBLO CONCRETE
    Surface metal/non-metal · Transit Mix Of Pueblo · MSHA ID 0500960
    Abandoned
  43. Pueblo East
    Surface metal/non-metal · Castle Concrete Aggregates · MSHA ID 0504704
    Abandoned
  44. Pueblo Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Fountain Sand & Gravel Company · MSHA ID 0500976
    Abandoned
  45. Refractories
    Facility metal/non-metal · A P Green Refractories Inc · MSHA ID 0502583
    Abandoned
  46. Rock Creek Mine
    Underground metal/non-metal · A P Green Refractories Inc · MSHA ID 0500185
    Abandoned
  47. Rock Creek Mine
    Underground metal/non-metal · A P Green Refractories Inc · MSHA ID 0500187
    Abandoned
  48. Ross Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Walsenburg Sand & Gravel Company Inc · MSHA ID 0504311
    Abandoned
  49. SCREENING OPERATION
    Surface metal/non-metal · Rbk Construction Inc · MSHA ID 0504505
    Abandoned
  50. SCREENING PLANT
    Surface metal/non-metal · Kirkland Construction LLLP · MSHA ID 0504683
    Abandoned
  51. SECTION FOUR
    Surface metal/non-metal · Colorado Department Of Transportation · MSHA ID 0504314
    Abandoned
  52. Southern Rental #1
    Surface metal/non-metal · Lafarge West Incorporated · MSHA ID 0504760
    Abandoned
  53. St. Barbara Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Pete Lien & Sons Inc/Sand & Gravel Division · MSHA ID 0504818
    Abandoned
  54. STATE PIT
    Surface metal/non-metal · Western Mobile Southern Inc · MSHA ID 0504532
    Abandoned
  55. SUMMIT CLAY PITS
    Surface metal/non-metal · Summit Pressed Brick & Tile Company · MSHA ID 0503926
    Abandoned
  56. Summit Pressed Brick Pueblo
    Facility metal/non-metal · Summit Pressed Brick & Tile Company · MSHA ID 0500309
    Abandoned
  57. WASH PLANT
    Surface metal/non-metal · Kirkland Construction LLLP · MSHA ID 0504724
    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 43
Gravel Pit 20
Prospect Pit 17
Adit 8
Disturbed Surface 8
Quarry 7
Gravel/Borrow Pit - Undifferentiated 3
Clay Pit 3
Quarry 3
Open Pit Mine 3
Clay Pit 2
Slag Pile 2
P1 Vertical Openings 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.