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Abandoned mines › Florida
Abandoned mine inventory

Abandoned mines in Polk County, Florida

Polk County, Florida has 268 mine and prospect features on USGS topographic maps published 1944–1988; 2 of the features carry a name on the map. MSHA's register carries 54 mines in the county with status Abandoned or Abandoned and Sealed.

Every mine and prospect feature the USGS digitized from historical topographic maps covering Polk 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)
268
Mine openings
0
OSMRE problems unreclaimed
0
MSHA mines marked abandoned
54
2 features carry a name0 prospect pits41 quadrangle maps, published 1944–1988 0 MSHA mines abandoned and sealed
What the features are
  1. Mines and surface workings
    labelled mines, open pits, strip mines, placer and hydraulic workings
    158 59.0%
  2. Quarries, gravel and borrow pits
    construction-material and industrial-mineral extraction
    57 21.3%
  3. Dumps, tailings, spoil and gob
    what mining left above ground
    53 19.8%
Named features on the maps2 named · from the USGS compilation
Name on map Feature
Old Colony Mine Tailings - Pond area
Slime Pit Settling Pond 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.

MSHA-registered mines with status Abandoned54 on register
  1. Auburndale Terminal
    Surface metal/non-metal · Florida Rock Industries Inc · MSHA ID 0801239
    Abandoned
  2. Bartow Mill
    Facility metal/non-metal · United States Steel Corp · MSHA ID 0800188
    Abandoned
  3. Bartow Minerals Corp
    Surface metal/non-metal · Trans Phos Inc · MSHA ID 0800946
    Abandoned
  4. Bartow Minerals Corporation
    Facility metal/non-metal · Bartow Minerals Corp · MSHA ID 0800945
    Abandoned
  5. Bartow Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Peace River Peat Inc · MSHA ID 0800221
    Abandoned
  6. Bonny Lake Mine
    Surface metal/non-metal · W R Grace & Company · MSHA ID 0800168
    Abandoned
  7. CLEAR SPRINGS MINE & MILL
    Surface metal/non-metal · Imc-Agrico · MSHA ID 0800176
    Abandoned
  8. DAVENPORT SHOPS
    Facility metal/non-metal · Rinker Materials Of Florida, Inc. · MSHA ID 0801219
    Abandoned
  9. FAB SHOP
    Facility metal/non-metal · Rinker Materials Corp · MSHA ID 0801201
    Abandoned
  10. FORT GREEN
    Surface metal/non-metal · Mosaic Phosphates Company · MSHA ID 0800768
    Abandoned
  11. Fort Meade Mine
    Surface metal/non-metal · Mobil Mining & Minerals Company · MSHA ID 0800379
    Abandoned
  12. FT MEADE MINE
    Surface metal/non-metal · Mosaic Fertilizer, LLC · MSHA ID 0800174
    Abandoned
  13. Hampton Mine
    Surface metal/non-metal · Ridge Limerock Ocala Limerock Mining · MSHA ID 0800574
    Abandoned
  14. Haynsworth Mine & Mill
    Surface metal/non-metal · Brewster Phosphates · MSHA ID 0800381
    Abandoned
  15. Haynsworth Mine & Mill
    Surface metal/non-metal · Imc Fertilizer Inc · MSHA ID 0801055
    Abandoned
  16. Hookers Prairie Mine
    Surface metal/non-metal · Mosaic Fertilizer LLC · MSHA ID 0800835
    Abandoned
  17. Hopewell
    Surface metal/non-metal · Mosaic Phosphates Company · MSHA ID 0801004
    Abandoned
  18. JOSHUA MINE
    Surface metal/non-metal · Rinker Materials Of Florida Inc · MSHA ID 0800990
    Abandoned
  19. Kingsford
    Surface metal/non-metal · Mosaic Phosphates Company · MSHA ID 0800177
    Abandoned
  20. Loughman Mine
    Surface metal/non-metal · E R Jahna Industries Inc · MSHA ID 0800278
    Abandoned
  21. MULBERRY LIMESTONE
    Facility metal/non-metal · Imc-Agrico · MSHA ID 0800552
    Abandoned
  22. NICHOLS MINE
    Surface metal/non-metal · Agrifos Mining Llc · MSHA ID 0800385
    Abandoned
  23. NICHOLS PREP
    Facility metal/non-metal · Agrifos Mining Llc · MSHA ID 0800182
    Abandoned
  24. No 1 Mine
    Surface metal/non-metal · Florida Potting Soils Inc · MSHA ID 0800879
    Abandoned
  25. Noralyn
    Surface metal/non-metal · Mosaic Phosphates Company · MSHA ID 0800178
    Abandoned
  26. Number 540 Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Townson Peat & Soil · MSHA ID 0800870
    Abandoned
  27. Oak Ridge Mine
    Surface metal/non-metal · Midland Chemical Inc · MSHA ID 0800980
    Abandoned
  28. Oak Ridge Sand Co Inc Poik City Min
    Surface metal/non-metal · Oak Ridge Sand Co Inc · MSHA ID 0800299
    Abandoned
  29. PAYNE CREEK
    Surface metal/non-metal · Imc Phosphates Company · MSHA ID 0800172
    Abandoned
  30. Phosphate Center
    Facility metal/non-metal · Estech Inc · MSHA ID 0800382
    Abandoned
  31. PHOSPHORIA MINE & MILL
    Surface metal/non-metal · Imc-Agrico · MSHA ID 0800715
    Abandoned
  32. PIERCE
    Facility metal/non-metal · Mosaic Phosphates Company · MSHA ID 0800388
    Abandoned
  33. Polk City Clay Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Polk County Road Department · MSHA ID 0800881
    Abandoned
  34. POLK CITY MINE
    Surface metal/non-metal · Standard Sand & Silica Company · MSHA ID 0800456
    Abandoned
  35. Polk County Mine
    Surface metal/non-metal · T/A Minerals Corp · MSHA ID 0800793
    Abandoned
  36. Polk County Mine
    Surface metal/non-metal · West Coast Mining & Silica Inc · MSHA ID 0800937
    Abandoned
  37. POLK SAND PLANT
    Surface metal/non-metal · Vulcan Construction Materials, LLC · MSHA ID 0800884
    Abandoned
  38. Recovery One
    Surface metal/non-metal · Mineral Development, LLC · MSHA ID 0801445
    Abandoned
  39. Ridgewood Mill
    Facility metal/non-metal · Seminole Fertilizer Corp · MSHA ID 0800375
    Abandoned
  40. RMC Bronson Mine
    Surface metal/non-metal · Cemex Construction Materials Florida LLC · MSHA ID 0801323
    Abandoned
  41. Rockland Mine
    Surface metal/non-metal · U S Agri-Chemicals Corp · MSHA ID 0800189
    Abandoned
  42. Saddle Creek
    Surface metal/non-metal · Agrico Mining Company · MSHA ID 0800173
    Abandoned
  43. Sanchez Mine
    Surface metal/non-metal · Sanchez Chesser, Inc. · MSHA ID 0801390
    Abandoned
  44. Sandland Plant
    Surface metal/non-metal · Florida Rock Industries Inc · MSHA ID 0800407
    Abandoned
  45. Silver City Mine
    Surface metal/non-metal · Estech Inc · MSHA ID 0800186
    Abandoned
  46. South Pierce Wet Rock Processing
    Facility metal/non-metal · Agrico Chemical Company · MSHA ID 0800821
    Abandoned
  47. Starr Terrace No 1 Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Starr Terrace Inc · MSHA ID 0800868
    Abandoned
  48. Tenoroc Mine
    Surface metal/non-metal · Borden Chemical Division · MSHA ID 0800170
    Abandoned
  49. Tower Sand Plant
    Surface metal/non-metal · Florida Rock Industries Inc · MSHA ID 0801031
    Abandoned
  50. Transcor Wash Plant
    Surface metal/non-metal · Transcor Recycling, LLC · MSHA ID 0801341
    Abandoned
  51. Virginia Street Plant
    Facility metal/non-metal · Florida Phosphate Corp · MSHA ID 0800894
    Abandoned
  52. Watson Mine
    Surface metal/non-metal · Estech Inc · MSHA ID 0800187
    Abandoned
  53. West Coast Mine
    Surface metal/non-metal · Terramar Mining Corp · MSHA ID 0801027
    Abandoned
  54. Wright Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Dolime Minerals Company · MSHA ID 0800685
    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
Strip Mine 119
Disturbed Surface 27
Tailings - Undifferentiated 22
Borrow Pit 15
Sand Pit 12
Open Pit Mine or Quarry 10
Mine Dump 10
Tailings - Pond 8
Sand Pit 8
Mine Dump 7
Gravel/Borrow Pit - Undifferentiated 7
Gravel/Borrow Pit - Undifferentiated 5
Tailings - Undifferentiated 4
Clay Pit 3
Clay Pit 3
Borrow Pit 2
Settling Pond 2
Strip Mine 2
Gravel Pit 1
Gravel Pit 1
Other counties in FloridaAll 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.