A Resource for Geological and Mining Information: The National Mine Map Repository, Department of the Interior

The National Mine Map Repository (NMMR) is part of the Department of the Interior's Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement. The NMMR, established by Congress in 1969, is located in Pittsburgh, PA. It is responsible for collecting, inventorying, scanning, and processing maps from abandoned mines across the United States. A second office of the NMMR, located in Wilkes-Barre, PA, is responsible for archiving mine maps from the anthracite coal region of eastern Pennsylvania. The NMMR contains in its archive, in both microfilm and digital formats, over 140,000 abandoned mine maps that date from 1859 to the present day. It also serves as a location for mine map retrieval in an emergency. The archive is a source of geological, engineering, environmental, and mining information from both surface and underground mines throughout the United States. Information contained in the NMMR archive includes: 1) coal, metal, and non-metal mine maps, 2) geological information (bed name, bed thickness, depths, drill-hole data, cross-sections, elevation contours, structures, outcrops, mineralized zones, and mineral assays), 3) mine locations, 4) mine and company names, 5) mine plans, 6) geological, mining, and engineering reports, 7) geographical data (abandoned railroad lines and stations, mining towns, surface facilities, roads, ponds, streams, and property survey points), and 8) gas well and drill-hole locations. All research, data retrieval, and shipments of mine map data are free to the public.