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Abandoned mines › Pennsylvania
Abandoned mine inventory

Abandoned mines in Mercer County, Pennsylvania

Mercer County, Pennsylvania has 271 mine and prospect features on USGS topographic maps published 1911–1994, including 3 mine openings (shafts, adits and air shafts); 3 of the features carry a name on the map. OSMRE's abandoned mine land inventory lists 74 problems in the county, 29 of them not yet reclaimed. MSHA's register carries 31 mines in the county with status Abandoned or Abandoned and Sealed.

Every mine and prospect feature the USGS digitized from historical topographic maps covering Mercer 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)
271
Mine openings
3
OSMRE problems unreclaimed
29
MSHA mines marked abandoned
31
3 features carry a name0 prospect pits19 quadrangle maps, published 1911–1994 74 OSMRE problems, 45 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
    19 5.5%
  2. Mines and surface workings
    labelled mines, open pits, strip mines, placer and hydraulic workings
    187 54.2%
  3. Quarries, gravel and borrow pits
    construction-material and industrial-mineral extraction
    66 19.1%
  4. Dumps, tailings, spoil and gob
    what mining left above ground
    26 7.5%
  5. Mills, tipples and facilities
    processing plants and hazardous structures
    5 1.4%
  6. Other reclamation problems
    highwalls, subsidence, polluted or clogged water, fires, slides and gases in OSMRE's inventory
    42 12.2%
Named features on the maps3 named · from the USGS compilation
Name on map Feature
Airway Beacon Air Shaft
Number Five Mine Open Pit Mine
Number Five Mine Open Pit Mine

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 problems74 on inventory
Problem area Problem Status
Amsterdam North P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Completed
Amsterdam North P3 High Wall Reclamation Pending
Amsterdam North P3 Spoil Area In Reclamation
Blacktown P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Completed
Blacktown P3 Pits Reclamation Completed
Blacktown P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Completed
Bowie P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Completed
Bowie P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Pending
Bowie Southwest P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities Reclamation Completed
Bowie Southwest P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Brent P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Pending
Crestview Park P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Completed
Crestview Park P2 Hazardous Water Bodies Reclamation Completed
Crestview Park P2 Hazardous Water Bodies Reclamation Completed
Crestview Park P3 Gobs Reclamation Pending
Crestview Park P3 High Wall Reclamation Pending
Crestview Park P3 Pits Reclamation Pending
Crestview Park P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Pending
Fiddlers Hill P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Pending
Fiddlers South East P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities Reclamation Completed
Filer Corners Northeast P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments Reclamation Completed
Filer Corners Northeast P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Filer Corners Northeast P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Pending
Golden Run P2 Hazardous Water Bodies Reclamation Completed
Grove City North P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Grove City North P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Grove City North P2 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Grove City West P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Completed
Grove City West P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Pending
Hadley South P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Hendersonville East P2 Surface Burning In Reclamation
Holly Lane P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Irishtown North P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Pending
Kerrs Corners P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Kerrs Corners P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
London Area P2 Polluted Water: Human Consumption Reclamation Pending
London Area P3 Gobs Reclamation Pending
London Area P3 Slump Reclamation Pending
Nesbit Corner East P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Completed
Nesbit Corner East P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments Reclamation Pending
Nesbit Corner East P2 Hazardous Water Bodies Reclamation Completed
Nesbit Corner East P2 Hazardous Water Bodies Reclamation Pending
Nesbit Corner East P3 Spoil Area In Reclamation
Nesbit Corner Northeast P1 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Completed
Nesbit Corner Northeast P1 Dangerous Impoundments Reclamation Completed
Nesbit Corner Northeast P1 Portals Reclamation Completed
Nesbit Corners P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Completed
Nesbit Corners P3 Equipment Facility Reclamation Completed
Nesbit Corners P3 Gobs Reclamation Completed
Nesbit Corners P3 High Wall Reclamation Completed
Nesbit Corners South P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Pending
Nesbit Corners South P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Completed
Nesbit Corners South P2 Hazardous Water Bodies Reclamation Pending
Nesbit Corners South P3 Spoil Area Reclamation Completed
North Liberty South P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
North Liberty South P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
North Liberty South P2 Dangerous Highwalls In Reclamation
North Liberty South P3 High Wall In Reclamation
North Liberty South P3 Spoil Area In Reclamation
Pa - Mercer - Fea P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Pa - Mercer - Fea P3 Other Reclamation Completed
Perrys Corners P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Pending
Prospect Ridge P2 Dangerous Impoundments Reclamation Pending
Prospect Ridge P2 Vertical Openings Reclamation Pending
Sharon P1 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Sharon P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Sharon P2 Clogged Streams Reclamation Pending
Sharon P2 Subsidence Reclamation Completed
Springfield Corners Nth P2 Dangerous Highwalls Reclamation Pending
Stoneboro P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments Reclamation Completed
Stoneboro P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Wheatland Southcentr P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Wheatland Southcentr P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Wheatland Southcentr P2 Subsidence Reclamation Completed

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 Abandoned31 on register
  1. Adobe Tipple
    Facility coal · Willowbrook Mining Company · MSHA ID 3606947
    Abandoned
  2. Allegheny Strip
    Surface coal · Allegheny Energy Company Inc · MSHA ID 3606625
    Abandoned
  3. Bell Operation
    Surface coal · Neil Atwell · MSHA ID 3606726
    Abandoned
  4. Ben Hal Strips
    Surface coal · Ben Hal Mining · MSHA ID 3608541
    Abandoned
  5. Big B Mining Company Incorporated
    Surface metal/non-metal · Big B Mining Company Inc · MSHA ID 3606880
    Abandoned
  6. Black-Dot Strip
    Surface coal · Black Dot Coal Inc · MSHA ID 3606752
    Abandoned
  7. Brent Strip Mine
    Surface coal · Perry-Ross Coal Co · MSHA ID 3603339
    Abandoned
  8. CEDARAPIDS
    Surface metal/non-metal · Temple Portable Crushing Inc · MSHA ID 3608781
    Abandoned
  9. Extec C12 Crusher SN7853
    Surface metal/non-metal · Temple Portable Crushing, INC · MSHA ID 3610322
    Abandoned
  10. Grace Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Murdock Excavating · MSHA ID 3607015
    Abandoned
  11. GRASAN
    Surface metal/non-metal · Temple Portable Crushing Inc · MSHA ID 3609041
    Abandoned
  12. Grove City
    Facility metal/non-metal · Buffalo Crushed Stone Company Inc · MSHA ID 3608345
    Abandoned
  13. Grove City Prep Plant
    Facility coal · Ambrosia Coal & Construction Company · MSHA ID 3604168
    Abandoned
  14. J Taylor Sand & Gravel
    Surface metal/non-metal · J Taylor Sand & Gravel · MSHA ID 3603225
    Abandoned
  15. Kopta Pit And Portable Plant
    Surface metal/non-metal · Charles Kopta Excavating · MSHA ID 3606979
    Abandoned
  16. Law Operation
    Surface coal · Gl & Gw Development · MSHA ID 3606964
    Abandoned
  17. Mercer
    Surface metal/non-metal · Three Rivers Aggregates LLC · MSHA ID 3607431
    Abandoned
  18. Perry Strips
    Surface coal · Perry Brothers Coal Company · MSHA ID 3601430
    Abandoned
  19. PORTABLE CRUSHER #1
    Surface metal/non-metal · Custom Crushing Ltd · MSHA ID 3607703
    Abandoned
  20. Risch Sand And Gravel Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Risch Sand & Gravel · MSHA ID 3606067
    Abandoned
  21. S & C Pipeline Co
    Surface coal · S & C Pipeline Company · MSHA ID 3605650
    Abandoned
  22. Sagulla
    Surface coal · Ben Hal Mining Inc · MSHA ID 3610408
    Abandoned
  23. SEIDLE SAND & GRAVEL PIT
    Surface metal/non-metal · Seidle Sand & Gravel Inc · MSHA ID 3603217
    Abandoned
  24. SHENANGO VALLEY SAND & GRAVEL,INC
    Surface metal/non-metal · Shenango Valley Sand & Gravel Inc · MSHA ID 3607021
    Abandoned
  25. Spagnola
    Surface coal · Ambrosia Coal & Construction Company · MSHA ID 3608277
    Abandoned
  26. Taylor
    Surface metal/non-metal · Doren Inc · MSHA ID 3609553
    Abandoned
  27. TRIO TF 4620
    Surface metal/non-metal · Temple Portable Crushing Inc · MSHA ID 3609267
    Abandoned
  28. UNIVERSAL
    Surface metal/non-metal · Temple Portable Crushing Inc · MSHA ID 3608782
    Abandoned
  29. Western Pa Aggregates
    Surface metal/non-metal · Western Pennsylvania Aggregates Inc · MSHA ID 3603182
    Abandoned
  30. Western Pa Aggregates Inc
    Surface metal/non-metal · Western Pennsylvania Aggregates Inc · MSHA ID 3606516
    Abandoned
  31. Willowbrook Strips
    Surface coal · Willowbrook Mining Company · MSHA ID 3603336
    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
Strip Mine 95
Disturbed Surface 61
Open Pit Mine or Quarry 27
Gravel Pit 22
Gravel Pit 13
P2 Dangerous Highwalls 12
Gravel/Borrow Pit - Undifferentiated 11
P2 Vertical Openings 9
P3 Spoil Area 8
Mine Dump 6
Gravel/Borrow Pit - Undifferentiated 6
Mine Dump 6
P1 Subsidence 6
P2 Hazardous Water Bodies 6
Borrow Pit 5
P1 Vertical Openings 4
P3 High Wall 4
Sand and Gravel Pit 3
P2 Subsidence 3
P2 Dangerous Piles & Embankments 3
Sand and Gravel Pit 3
P3 Gobs 3
Tipple 3
P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities 2
Mine Shaft 2
Quarry 2
P3 Pits 2
P2 Portals 2
Open Pit Mine 2
P3 Other 1
Open Pit Mine or Quarry 1
P1 Dangerous Impoundments 1
Quarry 1
P2 Polluted Water: Human Consumption 1
P3 Slump 1
P3 Equipment Facility 1
P1 Dangerous Highwalls 1
Air Shaft 1
P2 Dangerous Impoundments 1
P2 Surface Burning 1
Open Pit Mine 1
P2 Clogged Streams 1
P1 Portals 1
Other counties in PennsylvaniaAll 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.