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Abandoned mines › Colorado
Abandoned mine inventory

Abandoned mines in Rio Blanco County, Colorado

Rio Blanco County, Colorado has 159 mine and prospect features on USGS topographic maps published 1952–1971, including 26 mine openings (shafts, adits and air shafts) and 81 prospect pits; 6 of the features carry a name on the map. OSMRE's abandoned mine land inventory lists 24 problems in the county, 14 of them not yet reclaimed. MSHA's register carries 47 mines in the county with status Abandoned or Abandoned and Sealed.

Every mine and prospect feature the USGS digitized from historical topographic maps covering Rio Blanco 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)
159
Mine openings
26
OSMRE problems unreclaimed
14
MSHA mines marked abandoned
47
6 features carry a name81 prospect pits29 quadrangle maps, published 1952–1971 24 OSMRE problems, 10 reclaimed 2 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
    35 19.1%
  2. Prospect pits and trenches
    shallow exploration diggings that never became a mine
    81 44.3%
  3. Quarries, gravel and borrow pits
    construction-material and industrial-mineral extraction
    52 28.4%
  4. Dumps, tailings, spoil and gob
    what mining left above ground
    6 3.3%
  5. Other reclamation problems
    highwalls, subsidence, polluted or clogged water, fires, slides and gases in OSMRE's inventory
    9 4.9%
Named features on the maps6 named · from the USGS compilation
Name on map Feature
Black Diamond Mine Adit
Fairfield Mine Adit
Lion Canyon Mine Adit
Rienau Mine Adit
Stanley Gordon Mine Adit
Taylor Mine Adit

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 problems24 on inventory
Problem area Problem Status
Black Diamond - 50/37-01 P1 Underground Mine Fires In Reclamation
Black Diamond - 50/37-01 P1 Underground Mine Fires Reclamation Completed
Black Diamond - 50/37-01 P2 Underground Mine Fires Reclamation Completed
Lion Canyon Mine - 46/34-01 P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Mckee/coates/wesson - 65/44-01 P2 Portals In Reclamation
Mckee/coates/wesson - 65/44-01 P3 Gobs Reclamation Completed
Oldland/meeker #1/grace - 48/35-01 P2 Portals In Reclamation
Oldland/meeker #1/grace - 48/35-01 P3 Gobs Reclamation Pending
Pollard #2 - 59/48-01 P2 Portals Reclamation Pending
Pollard #2 - 59/48-01 P3 Gobs Reclamation Pending
Rienau - 57/43-01 P2 Portals Reclamation Pending
Rienau - 57/43-01 P2 Underground Mine Fires Reclamation Completed
Rio Blanco - Non-coal-county-wide P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Pending
Rio Blanco County - Coal - Co-wide P3 Mine Opening Reclamation Pending
Sheep Creek Mine - 46/33-01 P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Skull Creek/burning Mine - 87/51-01 P1 Surface Burning Reclamation Completed
Skull Creek/burning Mine - 87/51-01 P1 Underground Mine Fires Reclamation Completed
Skull Creek/burning Mine - 87/51-01 P2 Underground Mine Fires In Reclamation
Staley-gordon - 95/47-01 P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Staley-gordon - 95/47-01 P3 Gobs Reclamation Pending
Wilson Creek - Noi P1 Surface Burning Reclamation Completed
Wilson Creek - Noi P3 Gobs Reclamation Pending
Zodiac/sulphur Creek - 51/39-01 P2 Portals In Reclamation
Zodiac/sulphur Creek - 51/39-01 P3 Gobs 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 Abandoned47 on register
  1. Amick
    Surface metal/non-metal · Bailey Construction Company · MSHA ID 0503183
    Abandoned
  2. Anvil Points Mine
    Underground metal/non-metal · U S Department Of Energy · MSHA ID 0502500
    Abandoned
  3. Berry Pit And Plant
    Surface metal/non-metal · Berry Bros Ready-Mix Inc · MSHA ID 0502728
    Abandoned
  4. Blm (E Of Rangely)
    Surface metal/non-metal · Colorado Department Of Highways · MSHA ID 0503371
    Abandoned
  5. Bloomfield Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Aztec Ready-Mix Inc · MSHA ID 0502930
    Abandoned
  6. Blue Mountain Coal
    Surface coal · Blue Mountain Coal Company · MSHA ID 0502499
    Abandoned
  7. Butterfly
    Underground metal/non-metal · J R J Mining Company · MSHA ID 0503563
    Abandoned
  8. C & H Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · C & H Contracting Company · MSHA ID 0504440
    Abandoned
  9. C B Shale Oil Lease
    Underground metal/non-metal · Ralph M Parsons Company · MSHA ID 0503148
    Abandoned
  10. C-A Tract
    Underground metal/non-metal · Ams Inc Of Nevada · MSHA ID 0503180
    Abandoned
  11. C-B Tract Or C-B Shale Oil Tract
    Underground metal/non-metal · Gilbert Corp Of Delaware · MSHA ID 0503149
    Abandoned
  12. Collins Gulch Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Newpark Mats & Integrated Services · MSHA ID 0504933
    Abandoned
  13. Crusher #1
    Surface metal/non-metal · Mountain Aggregate Construction Inc · MSHA ID 0503155
    Abandoned
  14. Crusher #2
    Surface metal/non-metal · Mountain Aggregate Construction Inc · MSHA ID 0504459
    Abandoned
  15. Crusher #3
    Surface metal/non-metal · Mountain Aggregate Construction Inc · MSHA ID 0504460
    Abandoned
  16. Dearman Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Nielsons Inc · MSHA ID 0503239
    Abandoned
  17. Federal Oil Shale Lease Tract Ca
    Underground metal/non-metal · Mine Shaft & Tunnel Corp · MSHA ID 0503280
    Abandoned
  18. Federal Oil Shale Lease-Tract C-A
    Underground metal/non-metal · Morrison-Knudsen Company Inc · MSHA ID 0503179
    Abandoned
  19. Federal Oil Shale Lease-Tract C-A
    Underground metal/non-metal · Industrial Company · MSHA ID 0503181
    Abandoned
  20. Hawthorne Mc Quaid Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Schmidt-Tiago Construction Company · MSHA ID 0503202
    Abandoned
  21. Kenney Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Palisade Construction Company · MSHA ID 0503833
    Abandoned
  22. Kenny Pit Portable 1
    Surface metal/non-metal · Ace West Trucking · MSHA ID 0504856
    Abandoned
  23. Midnight Mine
    Underground metal/non-metal · Midnight Mining Company · MSHA ID 0501754
    Abandoned
  24. MONUMENT ROCK
    Surface metal/non-metal · Monument Rock · MSHA ID 0504705
    Abandoned
  25. Northern Coal #1
    Underground coal · Northern Coal Company · MSHA ID 0503227
    Abandoned
  26. OWL Western Gravel & Disposal
    Surface metal/non-metal · Oilfield Water Logistics · MSHA ID 0504929
    Abandoned
  27. Portable Crusher #1
    Surface metal/non-metal · Collins Construction Inc · MSHA ID 0504892
    Abandoned
  28. Portable Wash Plant #2
    Surface metal/non-metal · Connell Resources Inc · MSHA ID 0504744
    Abandoned
  29. RANGELY PIT
    Surface metal/non-metal · Ace West Trucking · MSHA ID 0504650
    Abandoned
  30. RENTED CRUSHER
    Surface metal/non-metal · Porta Crushers Inc · MSHA ID 0504722
    Abandoned
  31. Rienau #2
    Underground coal · Northern Coal Company · MSHA ID 0500285
    Abandoned and Sealed
  32. RIO BLANCA COUNTY CRUSHER
    Surface metal/non-metal · Rio Blanco County Road & Bridge Department · MSHA ID 0503109
    Abandoned
  33. Rio Blanco Oil Shale C-A Tract
    Underground metal/non-metal · Ruscon Becon Associates · MSHA ID 0503281
    Abandoned
  34. Rio Blanco Oil Shale Ca Tract
    Underground metal/non-metal · Harrison Electrical Construction Inc · MSHA ID 0503279
    Abandoned
  35. Rio Grand County Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Colorado Department Of Highways · MSHA ID 0503444
    Abandoned
  36. SCI-001
    Surface metal/non-metal · Scott Contracting, Inc. · MSHA ID 0505114
    Abandoned
  37. Tract C-A
    Surface metal/non-metal · Rio Blanco Oil Shale Company Inc · MSHA ID 0503131
    Abandoned
  38. U S B M No 1 Shaft
    Underground metal/non-metal · Multi Mineral Corp · MSHA ID 0503046
    Abandoned
  39. W J Oilfield Service
    Surface metal/non-metal · W J Oilfield Service · MSHA ID 0504433
    Abandoned
  40. Wagner Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Schmidt-Tiago Construction Company · MSHA ID 0503201
    Abandoned
  41. Wash Plant #1
    Surface metal/non-metal · Mountain Aggregate Construction Inc · MSHA ID 0504458
    Abandoned
  42. White River
    Underground coal · Staley Gordon Coal Company Inc · MSHA ID 0500286
    Abandoned and Sealed
  43. White River Aggregates
    Surface metal/non-metal · Bailey Concrete Products · MSHA ID 0503168
    Abandoned
  44. White River Aggregates
    Surface metal/non-metal · Colorado Department Of Highways · MSHA ID 0503372
    Abandoned
  45. White River Flagstone LLC
    Surface metal/non-metal · White River Flagstone LLC · MSHA ID 0504719
    Abandoned
  46. WR JAW CRUSHER
    Surface metal/non-metal · WR Aggregates · MSHA ID 0504578
    Abandoned
  47. WR WASH PLANT
    Surface metal/non-metal · WR AGGREGATES, LLC · MSHA ID 0504967
    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
Prospect Pit 81
Gravel Pit 38
Adit 23
Gravel Pit 13
P2 Portals 8
P3 Gobs 6
P1 Underground Mine Fires 3
P2 Underground Mine Fires 3
Mine Shaft 3
P1 Surface Burning 2
Sand Pit 1
P1 Vertical Openings 1
P3 Mine Opening 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.