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

Abandoned mines in Lee County, Kentucky

Lee County, Kentucky has 67 mine and prospect features on USGS topographic maps published 1952–1961, including 60 mine openings (shafts, adits and air shafts). OSMRE's abandoned mine land inventory lists 22 problems in the county, 16 of them not yet reclaimed. MSHA's register carries 48 mines in the county with status Abandoned or Abandoned and Sealed.

Every mine and prospect feature the USGS digitized from historical topographic maps covering Lee 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)
67
Mine openings
60
OSMRE problems unreclaimed
16
MSHA mines marked abandoned
48
0 features carry a name0 prospect pits4 quadrangle maps, published 1952–1961 22 OSMRE problems, 6 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
    60 67.4%
  2. Mines and surface workings
    labelled mines, open pits, strip mines, placer and hydraulic workings
    5 5.6%
  3. Quarries, gravel and borrow pits
    construction-material and industrial-mineral extraction
    2 2.2%
  4. Dumps, tailings, spoil and gob
    what mining left above ground
    6 6.7%
  5. Other reclamation problems
    highwalls, subsidence, polluted or clogged water, fires, slides and gases in OSMRE's inventory
    16 18.0%
OSMRE abandoned mine land problems22 on inventory
Problem area Problem Status
Beattyville Connect AML Pilot Proje P3 Other Reclamation Completed
Beattyville Connect AML Pilot Proje P3 Water Problems Reclamation Pending
Brandenburg Landslide P1 Dangerous Slides Reclamation Pending
Cooperas Cave Branch Mns P3 Equipment Facility Reclamation Pending
Cooperas Cave Branch Mns P3 Gobs Reclamation Pending
Cooperas Cave Branch Mns P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Pending
Dunigan Branch Road Slide P1 Dangerous Slides Reclamation Completed
Ida May Slides And Refuse P1 Dangerous Slides In Reclamation
Ida May Slides And Refuse P2 Polluted Water: Human Consumption Reclamation Pending
Ida May Slides And Refuse P3 Gobs Reclamation Completed
Ky 1144 Slide P1 Dangerous Slides Reclamation Completed
Little Sinking Strip P3 Bench Reclamation Pending
Little Sinking Strip P3 Equipment Facility Reclamation Pending
Little Sinking Strip P3 Other Reclamation Pending
Little Sinking Strip P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Pending
Mike Williams Drainage P2 Dangerous Slides Reclamation Completed
Mike Williams Drainage P3 Water Problems Reclamation Pending
Pre 87 P1 Dangerous Piles & Embankments Reclamation Completed
Salty Dog Flats Mine P3 Bench Reclamation Pending
Salty Dog Flats Mine P3 Other Reclamation Pending
Salty Dog Flats Mine P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Pending
Treadway Ridge Water Supply P2 Polluted Water: Human Consumption In Reclamation

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 Abandoned48 on register
  1. # 2 Surface
    Surface coal · D & D Processing, LLC · MSHA ID 1518465
    Abandoned
  2. #1
    Surface coal · Ace Coal Company Inc · MSHA ID 1515164
    Abandoned
  3. #1
    Surface coal · H & W Coal Company Inc · MSHA ID 1515178
    Abandoned
  4. #1 Surface
    Surface coal · Lewis Coal Company Inc · MSHA ID 1515466
    Abandoned
  5. #3
    Surface coal · W M N Coal Inc · MSHA ID 1514623
    Abandoned
  6. Beattyville Plant
    Facility coal · Tenkiller Mining Services Inc · MSHA ID 1512922
    Abandoned
  7. Beattyville Surface 1
    Surface coal · Appalachian Mining LLC · MSHA ID 1519734
    Abandoned
  8. Damerial
    Surface coal · Wade Ridge Mining Inc · MSHA ID 1513765
    Abandoned
  9. Dunigan Branch
    Surface coal · Unity Fossil Fuel Inc · MSHA ID 1515876
    Abandoned
  10. E & V Contractors (Surface)
    Surface coal · E & V Contractors · MSHA ID 1511817
    Abandoned
  11. Farmers Ridge Mine No 1
    Surface coal · Ace Coal Company Inc · MSHA ID 1510470
    Abandoned
  12. Gourley No 1
    Surface coal · Ruby Coal Company · MSHA ID 1516184
    Abandoned
  13. Greely Coal Co Inc
    Surface coal · Greely Coal Company Inc · MSHA ID 1516313
    Abandoned
  14. Ida May
    Surface coal · Whymore Coal Company Inc · MSHA ID 1517056
    Abandoned
  15. JMEG Mine, LLC
    Surface coal · JMEG Mine, LLC · MSHA ID 1519363
    Abandoned
  16. Lanny Hacker Coal Co
    Surface coal · Lanny Hacker Coal Company · MSHA ID 1514693
    Abandoned
  17. Leinad #1
    Surface coal · Leinad Equipment Inc · MSHA ID 1516240
    Abandoned
  18. No 1 Prep Plant
    Facility coal · Simron Energy Corp · MSHA ID 1506906
    Abandoned
  19. No 1 Prep Plant
    Facility coal · Carbon Flo Inc · MSHA ID 1508281
    Abandoned
  20. No 1 Prep Plant
    Facility coal · Jackson Coal Sales · MSHA ID 1508297
    Abandoned
  21. No 1 Prep Plant
    Facility coal · Southeastern General Fuels Inc · MSHA ID 1511429
    Abandoned
  22. No 1 Strip
    Surface coal · Simron Energy Corp · MSHA ID 1504373
    Abandoned
  23. No 1 Strip
    Surface coal · Gibson & Allen Coal Company · MSHA ID 1507779
    Abandoned
  24. No 1 Strip
    Surface coal · N & M Coal Company · MSHA ID 1508063
    Abandoned
  25. No 1 Strip
    Surface coal · C & C Coal Co · MSHA ID 1508364
    Abandoned
  26. No 1 Strip
    Surface coal · Caudill Construction Company Inc · MSHA ID 1509498
    Abandoned
  27. No 1 Surface
    Surface coal · Hammond Coal Company · MSHA ID 1506992
    Abandoned
  28. No 1 Surface
    Surface coal · Bunn & Sexton Construction Co · MSHA ID 1508373
    Abandoned
  29. No 1 Surface
    Surface coal · Red Dog Coal Company · MSHA ID 1511145
    Abandoned
  30. No 1 Surface
    Surface coal · Hop Coal Inc · MSHA ID 1511148
    Abandoned
  31. No 1 Surface
    Surface coal · L & L Coal Corp · MSHA ID 1511712
    Abandoned
  32. No 1 Surface
    Surface coal · Cave Branch Enterprises Inc · MSHA ID 1512118
    Abandoned
  33. No 1 Surface
    Surface coal · Joe Asher Coal Company · MSHA ID 1513240
    Abandoned
  34. No 2 Mine
    Underground coal · Dean Jones Coal Company Inc · MSHA ID 1509825
    Abandoned
  35. No 2 Mine
    Underground coal · Southeastern General Fuels Inc · MSHA ID 1511425
    Abandoned
  36. No 2 Surface
    Surface coal · Fred R Miller Coal Corp · MSHA ID 1511848
    Abandoned
  37. No 2 Surface
    Surface coal · Kevin Coal Inc · MSHA ID 1516281
    Abandoned
  38. No 3
    Surface coal · Sandhill Processing Co · MSHA ID 1519009
    Abandoned
  39. No 3 Surface
    Surface coal · Mt Stripper Inc · MSHA ID 1509802
    Abandoned
  40. No 4 Auger Mine
    Surface coal · Breathitt County Coal Corp · MSHA ID 1504372
    Abandoned
  41. No1
    Surface coal · B B W Coal Inc · MSHA ID 1515548
    Abandoned
  42. No1 Prep Plant
    Facility coal · Kevin Coal Inc · MSHA ID 1514522
    Abandoned
  43. Pacemaker Prep Plant
    Facility coal · Congleton Brothers Inc · MSHA ID 1502317
    Abandoned
  44. Pacemaker Strip
    Surface coal · Congleton Brothers Inc · MSHA ID 1508452
    Abandoned
  45. Southeastern General Fuels No 2 Mine
    Underground coal · Southeastern General Fuels Inc · MSHA ID 1511565
    Abandoned
  46. St Helens Tipple
    Facility coal · Cortland Coal Inc · MSHA ID 1513823
    Abandoned
  47. Sturgeon Mining Co Inc
    Surface coal · North Fork Mining Company Inc · MSHA ID 1512500
    Abandoned
  48. Yellow Rock Quarry
    Underground metal/non-metal · Hinkle Contracting Company LLC · MSHA ID 1500048
    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
Adit 60
Strip Mine 4
P1 Dangerous Slides 4
P3 Other 3
P3 Spoil Area 3
P3 Water Problems 2
Quarry 2
P2 Polluted Water: Human Consumption 2
P3 Equipment Facility 2
P3 Gobs 2
P3 Bench 2
P2 Dangerous Slides 1
Strip Mine 1
P1 Dangerous Piles & Embankments 1
Other counties in KentuckyAll 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.