National Mine Waste Inventory (ver. 2.0, October 2026)

Version 2.0 of the National Mine Waste Inventory is part of an ongoing U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) effort to inventory mine waste features in the United States. This inventory is a collaborative geospatial database developed by the USGS in partnership with State geological surveys, supported by the Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI). This second version expands the national inventory of tailings, mine dumps, and other mine waste features associated with historical and current mining activities.

This release includes newly compiled features in Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, and it builds upon the previous data from Colorado, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Virginia, which remain part of the inventory but did not receive new additions in this release. Each feature is represented as a point and polygon with attributes describing location, size, commodity, mineralogy, and other characteristics. Features included in this version have an areal extent of approximately 2,000 square meters or more. All entries in the inventory are derived from publicly available sources compiled by USGS staff and State geological survey partners.

First release: January 23, 2026
Revised: October 1, 2026 (ver. 2.0)