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Abandoned mines › Colorado
Abandoned mine inventory

Abandoned mines in Teller County, Colorado

Teller County, Colorado has 466 mine and prospect features on USGS topographic maps published 1948–1994, including 7 mine openings (shafts, adits and air shafts) and 420 prospect pits; 19 of the features carry a name on the map. OSMRE's abandoned mine land inventory lists 7 problems in the county, 4 of them not yet reclaimed. MSHA's register carries 51 mines in the county with status Abandoned or Abandoned and Sealed.

Every mine and prospect feature the USGS digitized from historical topographic maps covering Teller 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)
466
Mine openings
7
OSMRE problems unreclaimed
4
MSHA mines marked abandoned
51
19 features carry a name420 prospect pits15 quadrangle maps, published 1948–1994 7 OSMRE problems, 3 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
    11 2.3%
  2. Prospect pits and trenches
    shallow exploration diggings that never became a mine
    420 88.8%
  3. Mines and surface workings
    labelled mines, open pits, strip mines, placer and hydraulic workings
    24 5.1%
  4. Quarries, gravel and borrow pits
    construction-material and industrial-mineral extraction
    10 2.1%
  5. Dumps, tailings, spoil and gob
    what mining left above ground
    5 1.1%
  6. Mills, tipples and facilities
    processing plants and hazardous structures
    2 0.4%
  7. Other reclamation problems
    highwalls, subsidence, polluted or clogged water, fires, slides and gases in OSMRE's inventory
    1 0.2%
Named features on the maps19 named · from the USGS compilation
Name on map Feature
Ajax Mine Mine
Black Cloud Mine Open Pit Mine
Cameron Mine Mine
Chicken Hawk Mine Mine
Cresson Mine Mine
El Paso Mine Mine
Elkton Mine Mine
Forest Queen Mine Mine
Gold Dollar Mine Mine
Golden Cycle Mine Mine
Joe Dandy Mine Mine
Last Dollar Mine Mine
Mollie Kathleen Mine Mine
Nickel Shaft Mine Mine
Portland Mine Mine
School Section Mine Mine
Stratton Independence Mine Mine
Vindicator Mine Mine
Wild Horse Mine Mine

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 problems7 on inventory
Problem area Problem Status
Teller - Non-coal-county-wide P1 Hazardous Equip & Facilities Reclamation Pending
Teller - Non-coal-county-wide P1 Hazardous Equip & Facilities Reclamation Pending
Teller - Non-coal-county-wide P1 Industrial/Residential Waste Reclamation Completed
Teller - Non-coal-county-wide P1 Portals In Reclamation
Teller - Non-coal-county-wide P1 Portals Reclamation Completed
Teller - Non-coal-county-wide P1 Vertical Openings In Reclamation
Teller - Non-coal-county-wide P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed

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 Abandoned51 on register
  1. A R M Pad And Claims
    Facility metal/non-metal · American Rare Minerals Inc · MSHA ID 0503690
    Abandoned
  2. Ada Bell Mine
    Underground metal/non-metal · Colorado Gold & Silver Inc · MSHA ID 0503540
    Abandoned
  3. Ajax Mine
    Underground metal/non-metal · Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Company · MSHA ID 0502266
    Abandoned
  4. Carbonate Hill
    Surface metal/non-metal · Levon Resources Inc · MSHA ID 0504404
    Abandoned
  5. Chesapeake
    Facility metal/non-metal · Murphy Mining & Exploration, LLC · MSHA ID 0504407
    Abandoned
  6. Clark
    Surface metal/non-metal · Teller County · MSHA ID 0503112
    Abandoned
  7. Cod/Rebecca
    Underground metal/non-metal · Gold Ore Ltd Of Cripple Creek · MSHA ID 0503689
    Abandoned
  8. Cripple Creek Materials Incorporated
    Surface metal/non-metal · Cripple Creek Materials Inc · MSHA ID 0504217
    Abandoned
  9. Cripple Creek Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Rocky Mountain Materials Inc · MSHA ID 0503797
    Abandoned
  10. Exploration Drift #1
    Underground metal/non-metal · Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Company · MSHA ID 0504175
    Abandoned
  11. Fair Chance Mine
    Underground metal/non-metal · Fair Chance Mines Inc · MSHA ID 0503657
    Abandoned
  12. Flourune
    Surface metal/non-metal · Gold Ore Ltd Of Cripple Creek · MSHA ID 0503352
    Abandoned
  13. Globe Hill Mine
    Surface metal/non-metal · Dayspring Mining Corp · MSHA ID 0502157
    Abandoned
  14. Gold Bond
    Underground metal/non-metal · Reeves Minerals Inc · MSHA ID 0502731
    Abandoned
  15. Gold Star Open Pit Mine
    Surface metal/non-metal · Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Company · MSHA ID 0504380
    Abandoned
  16. Gri Property
    Surface metal/non-metal · Texasgulf Inc · MSHA ID 0503768
    Abandoned
  17. Havilah Mine
    Underground metal/non-metal · Havilah Mining Company · MSHA ID 0503765
    Abandoned
  18. Heap Leach Project
    Surface metal/non-metal · Pikes Peak Mining Company · MSHA ID 0504050
    Abandoned
  19. High Park Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Rampart Exploration Corp · MSHA ID 0503016
    Abandoned
  20. Horse Shoe Tunnel
    Underground metal/non-metal · Minerex Corp · MSHA ID 0504101
    Abandoned
  21. Hull Mine
    Underground metal/non-metal · Hull Mining Company · MSHA ID 0503688
    Abandoned
  22. Jenott Portable Plant
    Surface metal/non-metal · Jenott Mining Corp · MSHA ID 0504058
    Abandoned
  23. Jerry Johnson Group
    Surface metal/non-metal · Little Pedro Mining Company · MSHA ID 0503774
    Abandoned
  24. Johnson
    Surface metal/non-metal · Colorado Department Of Highways · MSHA ID 0503350
    Abandoned
  25. Kevin Lee Screening Plant
    Surface metal/non-metal · Conley Construction · MSHA ID 0504679
    Abandoned
  26. Little Hope Mine
    Underground metal/non-metal · Rhino Mining, LLC · MSHA ID 0504837
    Abandoned
  27. Mary Mc Kinney
    Surface metal/non-metal · Pioneer Sand Company · MSHA ID 0503870
    Abandoned
  28. Mary Nevin Mine
    Facility metal/non-metal · Gold Ore Ltd Of Cripple Creek · MSHA ID 0502815
    Abandoned
  29. Midget Mine
    Underground metal/non-metal · Midget-Moon Anchor Mining Company · MSHA ID 0503687
    Abandoned
  30. MOFFAT TUNNEL
    Underground metal/non-metal · Yellow Gold Of Cripple Creek Inc · MSHA ID 0503299
    Abandoned
  31. Moffat Tunnel Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Rocky Mountain Materials Inc · MSHA ID 0503826
    Abandoned
  32. MULE CREEK GRAVEL PIT
    Surface metal/non-metal · Mule Creek Gravel Pit · MSHA ID 0504711
    Abandoned
  33. Newmont
    Surface coal · JHL Constructors · MSHA ID 0505146
    Abandoned
  34. Peacock Lode Mining
    Surface metal/non-metal · Peacock Lode Mine · MSHA ID 0503725
    Abandoned
  35. Pompeii Mine
    Underground metal/non-metal · Cripple Creek Gold Reserve · MSHA ID 0503568
    Abandoned
  36. Portland #1
    Surface metal/non-metal · Pioneer Sand Company · MSHA ID 0504156
    Abandoned
  37. Portland Open Pit Mine
    Surface metal/non-metal · Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Company · MSHA ID 0504263
    Abandoned
  38. Proper Mine/Chicago Tunnel
    Underground metal/non-metal · Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Company · MSHA ID 0504297
    Abandoned
  39. Providence Mine
    Underground metal/non-metal · Providence Mining LLC · MSHA ID 0504827
    Abandoned
  40. Red Jasper Granite
    Surface metal/non-metal · Colorado Quarries Inc · MSHA ID 0504200
    Abandoned
  41. Rittenhouse Mine
    Underground metal/non-metal · Yellow Gold Of Cripple Creek Inc · MSHA ID 0503761
    Abandoned
  42. School Section Mine
    Underground metal/non-metal · Katinka Mining Corp · MSHA ID 0503559
    Abandoned
  43. Sleepy Jim Tunnel
    Underground metal/non-metal · Young Mining Company · MSHA ID 0504213
    Abandoned
  44. Strong Mine
    Underground metal/non-metal · Mineral Enterprises · MSHA ID 0502392
    Abandoned
  45. TELLER COUNTY SCREEN
    Surface metal/non-metal · Teller County Road & Bridge Department · MSHA ID 0504570
    Abandoned
  46. Teller County Screen #2
    Surface metal/non-metal · Teller County Road & Bridge Department · MSHA ID 0504598
    Abandoned
  47. Tiger Timber
    Surface metal/non-metal · Tiger Timber Inc · MSHA ID 0504392
    Abandoned
  48. Twin Creek Campground
    Surface metal/non-metal · A-C Concrete & Materials · MSHA ID 0504809
    Abandoned
  49. UTE PASS CONCRETE SAND & GRAVEL
    Surface metal/non-metal · Ute Pass Concrete Sand & Gravel Inc · MSHA ID 0503962
    Abandoned
  50. Volcano Mine
    Underground metal/non-metal · W C Huffman · MSHA ID 0503555
    Abandoned
  51. West Ranch
    Surface metal/non-metal · Harold Merkel · MSHA ID 0502081
    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 420
Mine 18
Tailings - Undifferentiated 5
Quarry 5
Adit 5
Open Pit Mine 4
Gravel Pit 3
Gravel Pit 2
P1 Hazardous Equip & Facilities 2
P1 Vertical Openings 2
Open Pit Mine or Quarry 2
Mine Shaft 2
P1 Portals 2
P1 Industrial/Residential Waste 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.