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

Abandoned mines in Ward County, North Dakota

Ward County, North Dakota has 170 mine and prospect features on USGS topographic maps published 1947–1981, including 12 mine openings (shafts, adits and air shafts). OSMRE's abandoned mine land inventory lists 16 problems in the county, 12 of them not yet reclaimed. MSHA's register carries 46 mines in the county with status Abandoned or Abandoned and Sealed.

Every mine and prospect feature the USGS digitized from historical topographic maps covering Ward 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)
170
Mine openings
12
OSMRE problems unreclaimed
12
MSHA mines marked abandoned
46
0 features carry a name0 prospect pits40 quadrangle maps, published 1947–1981 16 OSMRE problems, 4 reclaimed 1 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
    12 6.5%
  2. Mines and surface workings
    labelled mines, open pits, strip mines, placer and hydraulic workings
    40 21.5%
  3. Quarries, gravel and borrow pits
    construction-material and industrial-mineral extraction
    118 63.4%
  4. Dumps, tailings, spoil and gob
    what mining left above ground
    1 0.5%
  5. Mills, tipples and facilities
    processing plants and hazardous structures
    1 0.5%
  6. Other reclamation problems
    highwalls, subsidence, polluted or clogged water, fires, slides and gases in OSMRE's inventory
    14 7.5%
OSMRE abandoned mine land problems16 on inventory
Problem area Problem Status
Buechler Knorr P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Buechler Knorr P2 Dangerous Highwalls In Reclamation
Buechler Knorr P2 Dangerous Highwalls In Reclamation
Buechler Knorr P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities Reclamation Pending
Buechler Knorr P2 Subsidence In Reclamation
Buechler Knorr P2 Surface Burning In Reclamation
Buechler Knorr P3 Spoil Area In Reclamation
Burlington P2 Subsidence In Reclamation
Burlington P3 Water Problems Reclamation Pending
Foxholm P2 Subsidence In Reclamation
Kenmare P2 Subsidence Reclamation Pending
Nd - Ward - Fea P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Niobe P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Niobe P2 Subsidence Reclamation Pending
Snake Road P2 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
White Ash P2 Subsidence 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 Abandoned46 on register
  1. 5-10 Portable Kovman Washplant
    Facility metal/non-metal · Gravel Products Inc · MSHA ID 3200354
    Abandoned
  2. AGGREGATE C-11
    Surface metal/non-metal · Aggregate Construction Inc · MSHA ID 3200728
    Abandoned
  3. Aggregate C-15
    Surface metal/non-metal · Aggregate Construction Inc · MSHA ID 3200704
    Abandoned
  4. AGGREGATE C-17
    Surface metal/non-metal · Aggregate Construction Inc · MSHA ID 3200730
    Abandoned
  5. Aggregate C-19
    Surface metal/non-metal · Aggregate Construction Inc · MSHA ID 3200826
    Abandoned
  6. AGGREGATE C-2
    Surface metal/non-metal · Aggregate Construction Inc · MSHA ID 3200790
    Abandoned
  7. AGGREGATE WP-4
    Surface metal/non-metal · Aggregate Construction Inc · MSHA ID 3200768
    Abandoned
  8. Barsness Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Schriock Construction Inc · MSHA ID 3200334
    Abandoned
  9. C-16 99 NORBERG HP400
    Surface metal/non-metal · Gravel Products Inc · MSHA ID 3200772
    Abandoned
  10. C-18 PORTABLE UNIVERSAL 3042
    Surface metal/non-metal · Gravel Products Inc · MSHA ID 3200693
    Abandoned
  11. C-7 Portable
    Surface metal/non-metal · Gravel Products Inc · MSHA ID 3200689
    Abandoned
  12. C-8 Portable Ac 500 Hydrocone
    Surface metal/non-metal · Gravel Products Inc · MSHA ID 3200690
    Abandoned
  13. C-9 Portable 4 1/4 Symons
    Surface metal/non-metal · Gravel Products Inc · MSHA ID 3200691
    Abandoned
  14. C2 Plant Portable Spread
    Surface metal/non-metal · Gravel Products Inc · MSHA ID 3200586
    Abandoned
  15. Christianson Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Peterson Excavating Inc · MSHA ID 3200450
    Abandoned
  16. DES LACS PIT
    Surface metal/non-metal · Des Lacs Sand & Gravel Inc · MSHA ID 3200569
    Abandoned
  17. Deutsch Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Schriock Construction Inc · MSHA ID 3200339
    Abandoned
  18. Flaherty Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Schriock Construction Inc · MSHA ID 3200346
    Abandoned
  19. Gratech Portable #2
    Surface metal/non-metal · Gratech Co Ltd · MSHA ID 3200757
    Abandoned
  20. Gratech Portable #3
    Surface metal/non-metal · Gratech Co Ltd · MSHA ID 3200766
    Abandoned
  21. Halden Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Schriock Construction Inc · MSHA ID 3200344
    Abandoned
  22. Haugen Dev Operation
    Surface metal/non-metal · Haugens Construction Service · MSHA ID 3200585
    Abandoned
  23. Haugens Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Haugens Construction Service · MSHA ID 3200557
    Abandoned
  24. Hill Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Schriock Construction Inc · MSHA ID 3200333
    Abandoned
  25. Main Plant Wash Plant
    Surface metal/non-metal · Gravel Products Inc · MSHA ID 3200566
    Abandoned
  26. Metso HP300 ML-12
    Surface metal/non-metal · Monson Corporation · MSHA ID 3200926
    Abandoned
  27. Minot Paving Pit & Plant
    Surface metal/non-metal · Atlas Ready-Mix Of Minot Inc · MSHA ID 3200512
    Abandoned
  28. Minot Pit & Plant
    Surface metal/non-metal · Minot Sand & Gravel Company · MSHA ID 3200181
    Abandoned
  29. Minot Pit & Plant
    Surface metal/non-metal · Minot Sand & Gravel Inc · MSHA ID 3200656
    Abandoned
  30. Minot Pit & Plant Portable
    Surface metal/non-metal · Minot Sand & Gravel Inc · MSHA ID 3200657
    Abandoned
  31. Olson Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Schriock Construction Inc · MSHA ID 3200345
    Abandoned
  32. Pioneer Track Jaw
    Surface metal/non-metal · Monson Corporation · MSHA ID 3200939
    Abandoned
  33. PORTABLE #1
    Surface metal/non-metal · Loiseau Construction Inc · MSHA ID 3201427
    Abandoned
  34. Portable #2
    Surface metal/non-metal · Schriock Construction Inc · MSHA ID 3200679
    Abandoned
  35. Portable Crusher #1
    Surface metal/non-metal · 24/7 Contracting Services LLC · MSHA ID 3201006
    Abandoned
  36. Rau Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Schriock Construction Inc · MSHA ID 3200337
    Abandoned
  37. S-1 Portable Screening Plant
    Surface metal/non-metal · Gravel Products Inc · MSHA ID 3200694
    Abandoned
  38. S-11 PORTABLE WASHPLANT
    Surface metal/non-metal · Gravel Products Inc · MSHA ID 3200654
    Abandoned
  39. Spread
    Surface metal/non-metal · Gravel Products Inc · MSHA ID 3200551
    Abandoned
  40. TeeRex
    Surface metal/non-metal · Sundre Sand & Gravel · MSHA ID 3201059
    Abandoned
  41. Various Plant #1
    Surface metal/non-metal · Gravel Products Inc · MSHA ID 3200650
    Abandoned
  42. Various Rental Equipment
    Surface metal/non-metal · Gravel Products Inc · MSHA ID 3200457
    Abandoned
  43. Velva Mine
    Surface coal · Consolidation Coal Company · MSHA ID 3200045
    Abandoned and Sealed
  44. Wash Plant
    Surface metal/non-metal · Sundre Sand & Gravel · MSHA ID 3200788
    Abandoned
  45. Wash Plant #6
    Surface metal/non-metal · Farden Construction Inc · MSHA ID 3200836
    Abandoned
  46. Weltikol Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Schriock Construction Inc · MSHA ID 3200338
    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
Gravel Pit 76
Gravel/Borrow Pit - Undifferentiated 24
Disturbed Surface 17
Gravel Pit 15
Open Pit Mine or Quarry 12
Adit 11
P2 Subsidence 7
Strip Mine 5
Open Pit Mine or Quarry 4
P1 Subsidence 3
Sand Pit 3
P2 Dangerous Highwalls 2
Open Pit Mine 2
P3 Water Problems 1
P2 Surface Burning 1
P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities 1
Mine Shaft 1
P3 Spoil Area 1
Other counties in North DakotaAll 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.