BLM maintains an inventory of known abandoned mine lands on public lands. Most of the sites are abandoned hardrock mines. As of December 31, 2008, the inventory contained nearly 19,000 sites and 56,000 features. Approximately 15% of the sites have either been remediated, have reclamation actions planned or underway, or do not require further action.  The remaining 85% require further investigation and/or remediation.  

			Abandoned Mine Lands
			Site Status
								Remaining
	No Action	Completed	In Progress	Needs Analysis	Planned	Undetermined	Total	Sites
	Needed		(a)	(b)		(c)	Sites	(a+b+c)
AK	115	27	15			8	166	24
AZ	264	55	14	13	82	1,479	1,907	1,588
CA	4	54	31	2	41	353	485	427
CO	122	439	58	2,250	40		2,909	2,348
ID	147	98	23	4	74	304	650	405
MT	225	263	64	92	32	356	1,032	544
NM	10	35	10	9		546	610	565
NV	35	516	60	6,489	831	1,730	9,661	9,110
OR		10	4	1	2	37	54	44
SD	1	2					3
UT	41	106	22			320	489	342
WA	1	13	16	1	5	40	76	62
WY			9			925	934	934
Total	965	1,618	326	8,861	1,108	6,098	18,976	16,393
Source: BLM's AML Inventory System			as of 12/31/2008

This data should be considered soft because the BLM is currently reviewing and updating its data. In addition, the majority of sites were reported during the initial inventory efforts from various sources, but have not been assessed on the ground by the BLM.

You can view the latest BLM AML spatial data at www.geocommunicator.gov.

          

Abandoned Mine Land Feature Types
As of 12-31-2008
Ranked by %
	#	%
OTHER	19,888	35.6%
WASTE DUMP	11,175	20.0%
OPEN ADIT/DECLINE/TUNNEL	11,079	19.8%
OPEN SHAFT/INCLINE/STOPE	9,306	16.6%
HIGH WALLS/PITS	3,316	5.9%
TAILINGS	499	0.9%
CAVED ADIT/DECLINE/TUNNEL	474	0.8%
CAVED SHAFT/INCLINE/STOPE	124	0.2%
MINE/MINERAL PROCESSING MILL	36	0.1%
REPOSITORY	17	0.0%
ILLEGAL DUMP - HAZARDOUS WASTE	8	0.0%
ILLEGAL DUMP - SOLID WASTE	3	0.0%
INDUSTRIAL FACILITY	3	0.0%
ORPHANED WELL	3	0.0%
TANKS(ABOVE GROUND & UNDER GROUND)	2	0.0%
SPILLS(OTHER THAN PIPELINES)	1	0.0%
Total	55,934	100.0%
Source: BLM's Abandoned Mine Lands - Site Cleanup Inventory Database