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Abandoned mines › Kentucky
Abandoned mine inventory

Abandoned mines in Rockcastle County, Kentucky

Rockcastle County, Kentucky has 86 mine and prospect features on USGS topographic maps published 1952–1993, including 32 mine openings (shafts, adits and air shafts); 1 of the features carry a name on the map. OSMRE's abandoned mine land inventory lists 10 problems in the county, 6 of them not yet reclaimed. MSHA's register carries 70 mines in the county with status Abandoned or Abandoned and Sealed.

Every mine and prospect feature the USGS digitized from historical topographic maps covering Rockcastle 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)
86
Mine openings
32
OSMRE problems unreclaimed
6
MSHA mines marked abandoned
70
1 features carry a name0 prospect pits4 quadrangle maps, published 1952–1993 10 OSMRE problems, 4 reclaimed 29 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
    32 33.3%
  2. Mines and surface workings
    labelled mines, open pits, strip mines, placer and hydraulic workings
    49 51.0%
  3. Quarries, gravel and borrow pits
    construction-material and industrial-mineral extraction
    5 5.2%
  4. Dumps, tailings, spoil and gob
    what mining left above ground
    5 5.2%
  5. Other reclamation problems
    highwalls, subsidence, polluted or clogged water, fires, slides and gases in OSMRE's inventory
    5 5.2%
Named features on the maps1 named · from the USGS compilation
Name on map Feature
Great Saltpetre Cave 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 problems10 on inventory
Problem area Problem Status
Clarence Carter P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Pending
Clarence Carter P3 Bench Reclamation Pending
Mize Branch/hamm B.f P3 Bench Reclamation Pending
Mize Branch/hamm B.f P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Pending
Pre 87 P1 Dangerous Piles & Embankments Reclamation Completed
Pre 87 P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments Reclamation Completed
Sand Springs-rockcastle P3 Bench Reclamation Completed
Sand Springs-rockcastle P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Completed
Sinking Br./wyandot P3 Bench Reclamation Pending
Sinking Br./wyandot P3 Spoil Area 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 Abandoned70 on register
  1. #1
    Surface coal · Gilbert Mining Corp · MSHA ID 1515373
    Abandoned and Sealed
  2. #1 Strip
    Surface coal · Kidwell & Pittman Coal · MSHA ID 1515316
    Abandoned and Sealed
  3. Buffalo #3
    Surface coal · Ikerd-Bandy Company Inc · MSHA ID 1510734
    Abandoned and Sealed
  4. Castle Rock Quarry
    Surface metal/non-metal · The Allen Company · MSHA ID 1519785
    Abandoned
  5. Climax #1
    Surface coal · Black Diamond Processing Inc · MSHA ID 1516988
    Abandoned
  6. Job #1
    Surface coal · Blackfire Coal Company · MSHA ID 1514331
    Abandoned and Sealed
  7. Kentucky Gem Tipple
    Facility coal · Kentucky Gem Coal Company-A Joint Venture · MSHA ID 1510061
    Abandoned
  8. Line Creek No. 1
    Surface coal · Jamieson Construction Co. · MSHA ID 1518843
    Abandoned
  9. Lobb No 1 Surface
    Surface coal · Lobb Coal Mining Company · MSHA ID 1509605
    Abandoned
  10. Mine No 2
    Surface coal · Knox Energy Corp · MSHA ID 1512750
    Abandoned
  11. Mine No 23
    Surface coal · Jasper & Jasper Coal Company Inc · MSHA ID 1513348
    Abandoned and Sealed
  12. Mountain Clay No 16
    Surface coal · Mountain Clay Inc · MSHA ID 1511892
    Abandoned and Sealed
  13. Mt. Vernon Quarry
    Surface metal/non-metal · Hanson Aggregates Midwest Inc · MSHA ID 1517264
    Abandoned
  14. New Hope No 1 Surface
    Surface coal · New Hope Coal Company · MSHA ID 1510122
    Abandoned
  15. No 1
    Underground coal · Charity Christian Coal Company · MSHA ID 1511034
    Abandoned and Sealed
  16. No 1
    Surface coal · Browning Coal & Minerals · MSHA ID 1516532
    Abandoned
  17. No 1 Mine
    Underground coal · Wolf Creek Coal Company · MSHA ID 1510145
    Abandoned
  18. No 1 Strip
    Surface coal · Hyde & Mc Ghee Coal Company Inc · MSHA ID 1505224
    Abandoned
  19. No 1 Strip
    Surface coal · H & R Coal Company · MSHA ID 1510826
    Abandoned
  20. No 1 Strip
    Surface coal · Hilton Mining Corp · MSHA ID 1512002
    Abandoned
  21. No 1 Strip
    Surface coal · Reuben Hammond Ent · MSHA ID 1512558
    Abandoned
  22. No 1 Strip
    Surface coal · Bell Coal Company · MSHA ID 1512614
    Abandoned and Sealed
  23. No 1 Strip
    Surface coal · R & N Coal Company · MSHA ID 1512736
    Abandoned
  24. No 1 Strip
    Surface coal · L & J Excavating Corp · MSHA ID 1512968
    Abandoned and Sealed
  25. No 1 Strip
    Surface coal · Carter Mining & Energy Company Inc · MSHA ID 1513013
    Abandoned and Sealed
  26. No 1 Strip
    Surface coal · T & W Equipment · MSHA ID 1513385
    Abandoned and Sealed
  27. No 1 Strip
    Surface coal · J H C Equipment Company · MSHA ID 1513666
    Abandoned and Sealed
  28. No 1 Strip
    Surface coal · R & P Coal Company · MSHA ID 1514098
    Abandoned
  29. No 1 Strip
    Surface coal · Cornett & Walden Coal Company · MSHA ID 1514684
    Abandoned and Sealed
  30. No 1 Strip
    Surface coal · Buck Coal · MSHA ID 1515818
    Abandoned and Sealed
  31. No 1 Strip
    Surface coal · Natasha Trucking · MSHA ID 1516771
    Abandoned
  32. No 1 Strip Mine
    Surface coal · L B & B Corp · MSHA ID 1513432
    Abandoned and Sealed
  33. No 1 Surface
    Surface coal · Lasco Mining Corp · MSHA ID 1509814
    Abandoned
  34. No 1 Surface
    Surface coal · Minnie B Coal Company · MSHA ID 1510796
    Abandoned
  35. No 1 Surface
    Surface coal · Red Top Coal Company · MSHA ID 1510814
    Abandoned
  36. No 1 Surface
    Surface coal · Eli Coal Company · MSHA ID 1510842
    Abandoned
  37. No 1 Surface
    Surface coal · Malicote Coal Company · MSHA ID 1511938
    Abandoned and Sealed
  38. No 1 Surface
    Surface coal · Mount Vernon Mining Inc · MSHA ID 1511952
    Abandoned and Sealed
  39. No 1 Surface
    Surface coal · Paul Ramsey Coal Company · MSHA ID 1512231
    Abandoned
  40. No 1 Surface
    Surface coal · H M Ross Construction · MSHA ID 1512382
    Abandoned
  41. No 1 Surface
    Surface coal · N & S Enterprises Inc · MSHA ID 1514226
    Abandoned and Sealed
  42. No 1 Surface
    Surface coal · K W C Enterprises Inc · MSHA ID 1514415
    Abandoned and Sealed
  43. No 1 Surface
    Surface coal · Titan Coals Inc · MSHA ID 1514538
    Abandoned and Sealed
  44. No 1 Surface
    Surface coal · Triple I Coal Company · MSHA ID 1514601
    Abandoned and Sealed
  45. No 1 Surface Mine
    Surface coal · White Star Coal Co Inc · MSHA ID 1507424
    Abandoned
  46. No 1 Surface Mine
    Surface coal · D G S Coal Company Inc · MSHA ID 1512873
    Abandoned
  47. No 1 Tipple
    Facility coal · Regal Energy Inc · MSHA ID 1511686
    Abandoned
  48. No 2 Strip
    Surface coal · Queen City Construction & Coal Company · MSHA ID 1509309
    Abandoned
  49. No 2 Strip
    Surface coal · Dixie Energy Corp · MSHA ID 1510017
    Abandoned
  50. No 2 Strip
    Surface coal · Brown & Collins Inc · MSHA ID 1512727
    Abandoned
  51. No 2 Strip
    Surface coal · Black Gold Development · MSHA ID 1513146
    Abandoned and Sealed
  52. No 2 Strip
    Surface coal · Vaughn Construction · MSHA ID 1513368
    Abandoned and Sealed
  53. No 2 Surface
    Surface coal · Kentucky Gem Coal Company-A Joint Venture · MSHA ID 1510060
    Abandoned
  54. No 2 Surface
    Surface coal · Lynn Coal Company · MSHA ID 1510950
    Abandoned
  55. No 2 Tipple
    Facility coal · Jasper & Associates Inc · MSHA ID 1512440
    Abandoned
  56. No 3
    Surface coal · Ruby Coal Company · MSHA ID 1513350
    Abandoned and Sealed
  57. No 3 Strip
    Surface coal · Apex Mining Inc · MSHA ID 1513538
    Abandoned and Sealed
  58. No 3 Surface
    Surface coal · L T J Coal Inc · MSHA ID 1514353
    Abandoned and Sealed
  59. Number 1
    Underground coal · Lon-Ray Corp · MSHA ID 1513194
    Abandoned and Sealed
  60. Prep Plant
    Facility coal · Tenkiller Mining Services Inc · MSHA ID 1510123
    Abandoned
  61. Prep Plant No 1
    Facility coal · Ben Le Coal Corp · MSHA ID 1508385
    Abandoned
  62. R B S Mine No 5
    Surface coal · R B S Inc · MSHA ID 1510948
    Abandoned
  63. Rockcastle Prep Plant
    Facility coal · Perry Jefferson Mining Inc · MSHA ID 1512072
    Abandoned
  64. Roda Enter Inc Processing Plant #1
    Facility coal · R B S Inc · MSHA ID 1509610
    Abandoned
  65. Surface No 1
    Surface coal · Denham & Lewis Corp · MSHA ID 1514120
    Abandoned and Sealed
  66. Tipple
    Facility coal · Energy International · MSHA ID 1511676
    Abandoned
  67. Tipple
    Facility coal · Blackfire Coal Company · MSHA ID 1513374
    Abandoned
  68. Tommy Philbeck Mine
    Surface coal · Tommy Philbeck Company · MSHA ID 1514935
    Abandoned and Sealed
  69. Wolfe Creek Surface
    Surface coal · Goodwill Coal Company · MSHA ID 1510303
    Abandoned
  70. Wyandot Surface
    Surface coal · Wyandot Corp · MSHA ID 1509812
    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 32
Strip Mine 29
Strip Mine 13
Disturbed Surface 6
P3 Bench 4
Quarry 3
P3 Spoil Area 3
Quarry 2
P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments 1
P1 Dangerous Piles & Embankments 1
Open Pit Mine or Quarry 1
P2 Dangerous Highwalls 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.