Abandoned mines in Beaverhead County, Montana

1. Mine openings

   shafts, adits, air shafts, portals and vertical openings: the ways into underground workings
   385 27.2%
2. Prospect pits and trenches

   shallow exploration diggings that never became a mine
   743 52.5%
3. Mines and surface workings

   labelled mines, open pits, strip mines, placer and hydraulic workings
   49 3.5%
4. Quarries, gravel and borrow pits

   construction-material and industrial-mineral extraction
   131 9.3%
5. Dumps, tailings, spoil and gob

   what mining left above ground
   83 5.9%
6. Mills, tipples and facilities

   processing plants and hazardous structures
   11 0.8%
7. Other reclamation problems

   highwalls, subsidence, polluted or clogged water, fires, slides and gases in OSMRE's inventory
   14 1.0%

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.

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.

1. 3 Aces Mine

   Underground metal/non-metal · Vernon Riley · MSHA ID 2401534
   Abandoned 1981-08-21
2. Ajax Mine

   Underground metal/non-metal · Ajax Gold Inc · MSHA ID 2401675
   Abandoned 1984-07-11
3. Apex

   Surface metal/non-metal · Apex Garnet Inc · MSHA ID 2402558
   Abandoned 2014-05-08
4. Argentite Claims

   Underground metal/non-metal · Agau Inc · MSHA ID 2401595
   Abandoned 1981-08-21
5. Bannack Placer #1

   Surface metal/non-metal · Rltco · MSHA ID 2401788
   Abandoned 1989-08-01
6. Black Jack Slate & Stone

   Surface metal/non-metal · Black Jack Slate & Stone · MSHA ID 2402299
   Abandoned 2008-03-17
7. Boaz Mine

   Underground metal/non-metal · Yellow Band Operating LLC · MSHA ID 2402824
   Abandoned 2026-01-13
8. BON ACCORD VENTURE

   Surface metal/non-metal · P K M Mining · MSHA ID 2402190
   Abandoned 2002-08-28
9. Bon-Accord

   Surface metal/non-metal · Tri-State Consulting · MSHA ID 2401972
   Abandoned 1993-06-30
10. Cannivan Gulch Project

    Underground metal/non-metal · Cyprus Industrial Minerals Company · MSHA ID 2401590
    Abandoned 1983-05-17
11. COLEMAN CONSTRUCTION, INC.

    Surface metal/non-metal · Coleman Construction Inc · MSHA ID 2402201
    Abandoned 2007-07-26
12. Coleman Screen Plant

    Surface metal/non-metal · Coleman Construction Inc · MSHA ID 2402383
    Abandoned 2005-06-30
13. CRUSHING PLANT

    Surface metal/non-metal · Beaverhead County Road Department · MSHA ID 2401899
    Abandoned 2001-08-16
14. Dc Lucky

    Surface metal/non-metal · Detton Construction · MSHA ID 2401981
    Abandoned 1993-06-30
15. Dillon

    Underground metal/non-metal · Dan Mac Donald · MSHA ID 2401535
    Abandoned 1992-07-06
16. ELK GULCH VERMICULITE MINE

    Surface metal/non-metal · International Vermiculite (Montana) Inc · MSHA ID 2401911
    Abandoned 2002-02-01
17. Elkhorn Mine

    Underground metal/non-metal · Timberline Minerals Inc · MSHA ID 2401140
    Abandoned 1982-08-24
18. Ermont

    Underground metal/non-metal · Belmont Mining and Exploration LLC · MSHA ID 2402597
    Abandoned 2011-10-01
19. French Creek Mine

    Underground metal/non-metal · Lou Ethreredge · MSHA ID 2401632
    Abandoned 1982-05-05
20. French Creek Mine

    Underground metal/non-metal · Pacific Gold Mine Inc · MSHA ID 2401934
    Abandoned 1991-09-19
21. Frida Marie Grp

    Underground metal/non-metal · Northern Mining Company Inc · MSHA ID 2401696
    Abandoned 1984-06-06
22. Gold Finch Group

    Underground metal/non-metal · Robert Hurst Mining · MSHA ID 2401745
    Abandoned 1984-08-30
23. Grasshopper Creek

    Surface metal/non-metal · B B & A · MSHA ID 2402497
    Abandoned 2008-08-05
24. Grasshopper Mine

    Surface metal/non-metal · R A Hanson Mining Company · MSHA ID 2401714
    Abandoned 1983-10-20
25. Grasshopper Placer Mining Group LLC

    Surface metal/non-metal · Grasshopper Placer Mining Group LLC · MSHA ID 2402686
    Abandoned 2016-10-01
26. Grey Jockey

    Underground metal/non-metal · Timberline Silver Inc · MSHA ID 2401587
    Abandoned 1982-04-13
27. Ground Hog Mine & Mill

    Surface metal/non-metal · Bill Hand · MSHA ID 2401831
    Abandoned 1990-07-10
28. GULT PIT

    Surface metal/non-metal · Right Way Construction · MSHA ID 2402125
    Abandoned 1999-01-04
29. High Ridge Mine

    Underground metal/non-metal · Thunder Ridge Mines · MSHA ID 2401764
    Abandoned 1992-08-06
30. Jeff Davis Placer

    Surface metal/non-metal · Searle Brothers Construction Company · MSHA ID 2401872
    Abandoned 1988-10-31
31. Kent Mine

    Underground metal/non-metal · Dillon Mining & Milling · MSHA ID 2401532
    Abandoned 1986-04-30
32. Kodiak

    Surface metal/non-metal · Pioneer Mining Corp · MSHA ID 2401825
    Abandoned 1987-04-20
33. L S READY MIX CONCRETE INC

    Surface metal/non-metal · L S Ready Mix Concrete · MSHA ID 2400425
    Abandoned 2001-08-13
34. Last Chance (Prospect)

    Underground metal/non-metal · Idaho Energy Resources Company · MSHA ID 2401887
    Abandoned 1991-09-06
35. MAY DAY

    Underground metal/non-metal · Nygren · MSHA ID 2401894
    Abandoned 1997-03-24
36. N-D Smelting & Refining Joint Venture

    Facility metal/non-metal · N-D Milling Company · MSHA ID 2401624
    Abandoned 1982-08-20
37. New Departure

    Facility metal/non-metal · Silver Springs Mining · MSHA ID 2401614
    Abandoned 1990-08-03
38. New Departure Mine

    Underground metal/non-metal · ABM Mining Corp. · MSHA ID 2402634
    Abandoned 2013-12-06
39. Polaris Mine

    Underground metal/non-metal · Midnite Mines Inc · MSHA ID 2400686
    Abandoned 1983-10-22
40. Portable Screen

    Surface metal/non-metal · C C Stacking · MSHA ID 2402594
    Abandoned 2012-06-08
41. R E Miller & Sons - Sprint Screen

    Surface metal/non-metal · R E Miller & Sons · MSHA ID 2402446
    Abandoned 2006-05-20
42. Screening Plant

    Surface metal/non-metal · Beaverhead County Road Dept · MSHA ID 2401900
    Abandoned 2008-08-20
43. Silver Ridge

    Underground metal/non-metal · S & S Diversified Inc · MSHA ID 2401662
    Abandoned 1984-07-11
44. SWEETWATER GARNET INC.

    Surface metal/non-metal · Sweetwater Garnet Inc · MSHA ID 2402098
    Abandoned 2003-09-10
45. SWEETWATER GARNET MILL

    Facility metal/non-metal · Sweetwater Garnet Inc · MSHA ID 2402103
    Abandoned 2003-08-05
46. Towery Gravel Pit

    Surface metal/non-metal · Wade's Excavator & Backhoe Service · MSHA ID 2402493
    Abandoned 2007-09-24
47. Universal Enterpirses Incorporated

    Facility metal/non-metal · Universal Enterprise Inc · MSHA ID 2401751
    Abandoned 1984-05-10
48. Yellow Band

    Underground metal/non-metal · Yellow Band Operating LLC · MSHA ID 2401833
    Abandoned 2026-01-13

Status and date are as reported to MSHA by the operator. Each mine's own page carries its accident, citation and inspection record.

• Madison County 3,766
• Silver Bow County 2,397
• Jefferson County 1,973
• Lewis and Clark County 1,862
• Broadwater County 1,418
• Carbon County 769
• Powell County 741
• Granite County 719
• Cascade County 708
• Deer Lodge County 688
• Fergus County 550
• Meagher County 440

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.