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, with a separate mine map repository, for the anthracite coal region of eastern Pennsylvania, in Wilkes-Barre, PA. The NMMR serves as a location to retrieve mine maps in an emergency. The NMMR is also responsible for collecting, inventorying, scanning and processing maps from abandoned mines across the United States. 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. The archive serves as a source of geological, engineering, environmental and mining information for both surface and underground mines throughout the United States. Geological and mining 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 (abandon railroad lines and stations, mine 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.