Abandoned mines in Kay County, Oklahoma
Kay County, Oklahoma has 78 mine and prospect features on USGS topographic maps published 1963–1979. MSHA's register carries 17 mines in the county with status Abandoned or Abandoned and Sealed.
Every mine and prospect feature the USGS digitized from historical topographic maps covering Kay 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)
- 78
- Mine openings
- 0
- OSMRE problems unreclaimed
- 0
- MSHA mines marked abandoned
- 17
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9 11.5%Mines and surface workingslabelled mines, open pits, strip mines, placer and hydraulic workings
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69 88.5%Quarries, gravel and borrow pitsconstruction-material and industrial-mineral extraction
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ACG Materials KildareAbandoned 2016-10-14Surface metal/non-metal · ACG Materials · MSHA ID 3402125
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ACG NewkirkAbandoned 2013-11-05Surface metal/non-metal · Harrison Gypsum, LLC · MSHA ID 3402132
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EVANS AND ASSOCIATES PITAbandoned 2006-03-23Surface metal/non-metal · Evans & Associates Construction Company · MSHA ID 3400612
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Fagg PitAbandoned 1980-06-11Surface metal/non-metal · Gammill'S Machine Inc · MSHA ID 3401055
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KAY PITSAbandoned 2002-07-15Surface metal/non-metal · Kay County · MSHA ID 3401325
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NEWKIRKAbandoned 1999-06-01Surface metal/non-metal · Kay County Limestone Inc · MSHA ID 3401582
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Newkirk #1887Abandoned 2020-05-27Surface metal/non-metal · Arcosa Specialty Materials · MSHA ID 3401781
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No 1 Sand PitAbandoned 1980-06-11Surface metal/non-metal · Central Sand Company · MSHA ID 3401090
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Otto Quarry And PlantAbandoned 1980-07-23Surface metal/non-metal · Standard Industries · MSHA ID 3400045
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Plant #2Abandoned 1989-04-11Surface metal/non-metal · Sober Brothers Inc · MSHA ID 3400384
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Smith QuarryAbandoned 1986-03-17Surface metal/non-metal · Sedan Limestone Company Inc · MSHA ID 3400878
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Sober #5Abandoned 1988-04-05Surface metal/non-metal · Sober Brothers Inc · MSHA ID 3401056
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Starr PitAbandoned 1983-05-17Surface metal/non-metal · Cowan & Schuelein Company · MSHA ID 3401293
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Tapp No 4Abandoned 1985-04-25Surface metal/non-metal · Sober Brothers Inc · MSHA ID 3401270
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Throop PitAbandoned 1985-04-29Surface metal/non-metal · Miller Brothers Sand Company · MSHA ID 3401324
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THROOP PITAbandoned 2000-07-01Surface metal/non-metal · Throop Construction Company · MSHA ID 3401744
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Turner Plant #3Abandoned 2005-03-11Surface metal/non-metal · Sober Brothers Inc · MSHA ID 3400677
Status and date are as reported to MSHA by the operator. Each mine's own page carries its accident, citation and inspection record.
| Feature type | Features |
|---|---|
| Gravel Pit | 42 |
| Gravel Pit | 10 |
| Disturbed Surface | 9 |
| Sand Pit | 5 |
| Quarry | 4 |
| Quarry | 3 |
| Sand Pit | 3 |
| Gravel/Borrow Pit - Undifferentiated | 1 |
| Shale Pit | 1 |
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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).
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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.