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Abandoned mines › Utah
Abandoned mine inventory

Abandoned mines in Iron County, Utah

Iron County, Utah has 420 mine and prospect features on USGS topographic maps published 1949–2002, including 153 mine openings (shafts, adits and air shafts) and 103 prospect pits; 21 of the features carry a name on the map. OSMRE's abandoned mine land inventory lists 22 problems in the county, 5 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 Iron 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)
420
Mine openings
153
OSMRE problems unreclaimed
5
MSHA mines marked abandoned
31
21 features carry a name103 prospect pits55 quadrangle maps, published 1949–2002 22 OSMRE problems, 17 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
    161 36.4%
  2. Prospect pits and trenches
    shallow exploration diggings that never became a mine
    103 23.3%
  3. Mines and surface workings
    labelled mines, open pits, strip mines, placer and hydraulic workings
    43 9.7%
  4. Quarries, gravel and borrow pits
    construction-material and industrial-mineral extraction
    100 22.6%
  5. Dumps, tailings, spoil and gob
    what mining left above ground
    25 5.7%
  6. Mills, tipples and facilities
    processing plants and hazardous structures
    3 0.7%
  7. Other reclamation problems
    highwalls, subsidence, polluted or clogged water, fires, slides and gases in OSMRE's inventory
    7 1.6%
Named features on the maps21 named · from the USGS compilation
Name on map Feature
Columbia Steel Mine Mine Dump area
Escalante Mine Mine Shaft
Etna Mine Mine Shaft
Great Western Mine Open Pit Mine area
Homestake Mine Mine Shaft
Homestake Mine Mine Shaft
Homestake Mine Open Pit Mine area
Independence Mine Mine Shaft
Johnny Mine Mine Shaft
Jumbo Mine Mine Shaft
Lindsay Hill Mine Open Pit Mine area
Lindsay Hill Mine Tailings - Undifferentiated area
Lindsay Hill Mine Tailings - Undifferentiated area
Mac Farlane Mine Adit
New Arrowhead Mine Mine Shaft
Ofer Mine Mine Shaft
Skougard Mine Mine Shaft
Smith Mine Open Pit Mine area
Tucker Coal Mine Adit
Vermilion Mine Mine Shaft
West and East Pioche Mine Open Pit Mine area

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 problems22 on inventory
Problem area Problem Status
Culver Coal P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities In Reclamation
Culver Coal P2 Portals In Reclamation
Culver Coal P3 Bench In Reclamation
Culver Coal P3 Equipment Facility In Reclamation
Culver Coal P3 Spoil Area In Reclamation
Graff Point P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities Reclamation Completed
Graff Point P3 Gobs Reclamation Completed
New Harmony P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Right Hand Creek P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities Reclamation Completed
Right Hand Creek P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Right Hand Creek P2 Surface Burning Reclamation Completed
Right Hand Creek P3 Equipment Facility Reclamation Completed
Right Hand Creek P3 Gobs Reclamation Completed
Right Hand Creek P3 Water Problems Reclamation Completed
Stateline P1 Portals Reclamation Completed
Stateline P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Tucker P1 Portals Reclamation Completed
Tucker P1 Vertical Openings Reclamation Completed
Tucker P2 Portals Reclamation Completed
Tucker P3 Equipment Facility Reclamation Completed
Tucker P3 Gobs Reclamation Completed
Tucker P3 Water Problems 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. 20-1 Mine
    Underground metal/non-metal · Spring Creek Mines · MSHA ID 4201512
    Abandoned
  2. Bear Valley Quarry
    Surface metal/non-metal · Willis L Rasmussen & Son · MSHA ID 4200999
    Abandoned
  3. Bergin Mine
    Surface metal/non-metal · Stout Construction Company · MSHA ID 4201945
    Abandoned
  4. CASTLEDALE PIT
    Surface metal/non-metal · Jesoco Inc · MSHA ID 4202254
    Abandoned
  5. Comstock Mine & Plant
    Surface metal/non-metal · Utah International Inc · MSHA ID 4200946
    Abandoned
  6. Comstock/Mountain Lion
    Facility metal/non-metal · CML Metals · MSHA ID 4202624
    Abandoned
  7. Crusher 2
    Surface metal/non-metal · SoNev Construction · MSHA ID 4202715
    Abandoned
  8. Desert Edge
    Surface metal/non-metal · RPM Mining, LLC · MSHA ID 4202773
    Abandoned
  9. Desert Mound
    Surface metal/non-metal · Southwest Grading and Paving LLC · MSHA ID 4202756
    Abandoned
  10. Desert Mound Mine
    Surface metal/non-metal · United States Steel Corp · MSHA ID 4200138
    Abandoned
  11. Desert Mound Plant
    Facility metal/non-metal · United States Steel Corp · MSHA ID 4200750
    Abandoned
  12. Escalante Mine
    Surface metal/non-metal · Hecla Mining Company · MSHA ID 4201613
    Abandoned
  13. EVANS EXCAVATING & SUPPLIES
    Surface metal/non-metal · Evans Excavating & Supplies · MSHA ID 4202305
    Abandoned
  14. GDC Crusher # 3
    Surface metal/non-metal · Gilbert Development Corporation · MSHA ID 4202643
    Abandoned
  15. HARRIS ROCK PRODUCTS, LLC
    Surface metal/non-metal · Harris Rock Products LLC · MSHA ID 4202281
    Abandoned
  16. Iron Springs
    Surface metal/non-metal · Byron Stubbs · MSHA ID 4202803
    Abandoned
  17. Iron Springs Operation
    Facility metal/non-metal · Utah International Inc · MSHA ID 4200192
    Abandoned
  18. Iron Springs Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Utah Earth Movers Inc · MSHA ID 4201934
    Abandoned
  19. KANARRAVILLE ST. PIT
    Surface metal/non-metal · Construction & Sales Management · MSHA ID 4202195
    Abandoned
  20. Mc Cahill Thompson Mine
    Surface metal/non-metal · Utah International Inc · MSHA ID 4200745
    Abandoned
  21. MODENA DEVELOPMENT LLC
    Surface metal/non-metal · Modena Development Llc · MSHA ID 4202231
    Abandoned
  22. Mountain Lion
    Surface metal/non-metal · United States Steel Corp · MSHA ID 4200749
    Abandoned
  23. Ofer
    Facility metal/non-metal · Kinetic Minerals Inc · MSHA ID 4201248
    Abandoned
  24. Ophir Mine
    Underground metal/non-metal · Diamons West Energy Corp · MSHA ID 4201732
    Abandoned
  25. Pan Green/Highland Mist Mine
    Surface metal/non-metal · Cornerstone Industries Inc. · MSHA ID 4202601
    Abandoned
  26. Parowan Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Parowan Rock Products · MSHA ID 4201926
    Abandoned
  27. Schmidt Construction, Inc.
    Surface metal/non-metal · Schmidt Construction, Inc. · MSHA ID 4202359
    Abandoned
  28. Second Chance
    Surface metal/non-metal · Second Chance Mining · MSHA ID 4202589
    Abandoned
  29. SR9/Harrisburg Pit
    Surface metal/non-metal · Gilbert Development Corporation · MSHA ID 4202159
    Abandoned
  30. Staker-Mobile
    Surface metal/non-metal · Staker Paving & Construction Company Inc · MSHA ID 4201410
    Abandoned
  31. Young Mobile Unit 1
    Surface metal/non-metal · Merrick Young Inc · MSHA ID 4202183
    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
Prospect Pit 102
Mine Shaft 82
Adit 71
Gravel Pit 39
Disturbed Surface 33
Borrow Pit 31
Mine Dump 19
Gravel Pit 10
Quarry 8
Open Pit Mine 7
Gravel/Borrow Pit - Undifferentiated 6
P2 Portals 4
P3 Equipment Facility 3
Open Pit Mine 3
P3 Gobs 3
P2 Hazardous Equip & Facilities 3
Cinder Pit 3
Borrow Pit 3
P1 Portals 2
Tailings - Undifferentiated 2
P3 Water Problems 2
P1 Vertical Openings 2
P2 Surface Burning 1
Prospect Pit 1
P3 Bench 1
P3 Spoil Area 1
Other counties in UtahAll 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.