Is it safe, or legal, to go into old mines or dig on mine dumps?
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Do not go into old mine workings. The Mine Safety and Health Administration counted more than 200 deaths in accidents at abandoned mines and mine properties between 1999 and its 2008 warning, 148 of them in the preceding five years, across roughly 500,000 abandoned mines in the United States [1]. Collapsing timbers, hidden shafts, bad air and old explosives kill experienced people. Dumps, the waste piles outside, are a different question: they can be good collecting, but many sit on active mining claims or private land, and some carry arsenic, lead or mercury from the ore. This page explains the hazards, how to tell whether you may collect a dump, and how to work one safely.
Why the workings stay off limits
MSHA's long-running public campaign is called Stay Out, Stay Alive, and the name is the advice. Its 2008 release listed what kills people underground at abandoned mines: "hidden shafts, decayed and rotting boards, tunnels prone to deadly gases and flooding," and "unused or misfired explosives" [1]. At flooded quarries it warned of "unstable rock ledges, concealed machinery and sharp objects, and dangerously cold and deceptive waters" [1].
Those figures are dated: 2008, covering 1999 onward. A later safety alert that MSHA issued with the Ohio Aggregates & Industrial Minerals Association, reported by Pit & Quarry in June 2016, said: "According to MSHA, records show that about 30 people lose their lives at mines each year," and that "more than 60 percent of these fatalities are a result of drowning while swimming, diving, partying, boating or fishing" [4]. No later national count was found. Confirm current figures with MSHA before quoting them elsewhere.
| What you see | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| An open adit (horizontal tunnel) with a fresh-looking floor | Timber and rock overhead can fail with no warning; the floor may hide a winze (an internal shaft) | Stay outside. Collect only what is outside the portal |
| A hole in the ground, a ring of collapsed soil, or old timbers flush with the ground | A vertical shaft, possibly covered by rotten boards or brush | Keep well back. Never walk across old boards or a patch of sunken ground near workings |
| Cool air flowing out of a portal, or a musty or sweet smell | Air from inside the workings, which may be low in oxygen or carry gas | Do not enter. You cannot smell or see many dangerous atmospheres |
| Steep, overhanging rock above a pit, dump or highwall | Rock that can fall, especially after freeze, thaw or rain | Do not collect beneath it. Wear a hard hat near any highwall |
| Old boxes, sticks or crystallized material near a portal | Possible abandoned explosives; MSHA names "unused or misfired explosives" among the killers at old mines [1] | Do not touch. Leave the area and report it to the land manager or sheriff |
| A water-filled pit or quarry | Cold, deep water with submerged debris and ledges | Stay out of the water and back from crumbling edges |
Who owns the dump decides whether you may collect it
A dump is not free for the taking because it looks abandoned. Three things decide whether you may collect it.
Mining claims. On public land, an unpatented mining claim gives its holder "the exclusive right to the minerals being claimed" [2]. Collecting from a dump on an active claim without the claimant's permission can mean taking the claimant's minerals. Claims are not always marked on the ground. BLM's records, explained on mining claims: how to check and what they mean for you, are where you check.
Patented claims and private land. Many historic mines sit on patented claims, which are private property, scattered inside public land. A rusty sign or no sign at all tells you nothing. Finding out who manages the ground you are standing on covers county parcel records and land status maps.
Closures and reclamation. Land managers close and fill dangerous openings, and some dumps sit within closed or reclaimed areas. Posted closures apply to dumps as much as to the workings.
If the dump is on a claim or private land, the owner's written permission is what lets you collect it. Some claim holders and owners run fee digs on old dumps; fee-dig sites and pay-to-collect mines covers how those work.
Toxic dumps
Dumps carry what the miners were after and what they threw away. At metal mines that can include arsenic, lead, mercury, antimony, cadmium and other toxic elements, in minerals such as arsenopyrite, galena and cinnabar. The National Park Service lists arsenic, lead, mercury, antimony, cadmium and others among the toxic elements in geological collections, advises "neoprene gloves when handling minerals that contain potentially toxic elements," and calls for a respirator especially when specimens "are being cut or trimmed" [3].
On a dump that means:
- Wear gloves, and do not eat, drink or smoke until you have washed your hands.
- Do not raise dust. Split rocks rather than smashing them, work upwind, and stay off a dump on a windy day.
- Keep children and dogs off dumps at metal mines; children put hands in mouths, and dogs carry dust on their coats.
- Bag specimens from toxic dumps separately and label the bag.
- Brush off boots and clothes before getting in the car, and wash work clothes separately.
Which species are hazardous and why is covered on which minerals are dangerous, and how to keep them at home on handling and storing toxic minerals.
Working a dump safely
- Confirm you may be there. Land status, claims and closures, checked before the trip.
- Look up before you look down. Note any highwall, portal or shaft and plan your work well away from each.
- Work the surface and the edges. Turn rocks on top of the pile and along its foot. Do not undercut the toe of a steep dump, which can slump onto you.
- Split, do not smash. A crack hammer on a chisel along an existing fracture opens a vug cleanly and throws far less dust and fewer chips than a blow to the middle of a rock.
- Wear eye protection, gloves and boots. On a high or steep dump, add a hard hat.
- Fill what you dig and leave the dump stable.
Better ways to collect at old mine sites
You can still collect old mining districts without going underground or onto claims you have no right to work. Join a club that has permission from claim holders; clubs, federations and societies explains how club trips get access. Pay for a day at a fee-dig mine whose owner has made the dumps available. Or collect float in washes below a district on open public land, where the material has come to you.
Checking a claim before your next trip
Most dump questions turn out to be claim questions. Before you plan a trip to an old district, learn how to look up claims and what the claim holder's rights mean for you on mining claims: how to check and what they mean for you.
References
- Occupational Health and Safety, *MSHA to Public: 'Stay Out and Stay Alive'*, May 13, 2008 (reporting the Mine Safety and Health Administration's release). https://ohsonline.com/articles/2008/05/msha-to-public-stay-out-and-stay-alive.aspx
- Bureau of Land Management, *Mining Claims and Sites on Federal Lands* packet (MTDK), September 2024. https://blm.gov/sites/default/files/docs/2024-09/MTDK%20Mining%20Claims%20Packet%202024.09.pdf
- McDonald, Greg, *Health and Safety Issues with Geological Specimens*, Conserve O Gram 11/11, National Park Service, September 2006. https://www.nps.gov/subjects/museums/upload/11-11_508.pdf
- Allison Kral, *MSHA, OAIMA issue mine site safety alert*, Pit & Quarry, June 1, 2016 (reporting the alert from the Mine Safety and Health Administration and the Ohio Aggregates & Industrial Minerals Association). https://www.pitandquarry.com/?p=21241
