Statewide Inventory of Utah’s Significant Mine Waste Features (DS-8)

By: Claire Decker, Austin Jensen, Ben Sears, Josh Dustin, Subigya Shah, Rosemary Fasselin, and Stephanie Mills

 In light of growing interest in extracting important mineral resources from existing mine waste, the Utah Geological Survey has created an inventory of significant mine waste features in Utah. Mine waste consists of rock and other geological materials remaining after the mining process and may contain minerals that, though potentially valuable today, were not economically or technologically viable to recover at the time of mining. Mining has occurred in Utah since the mid-1800s and mine waste features are found in all counties of the state, though not all features meet the threshold of significance established for inclusion in this report (features in area greater than 2,000 square meters). The inventory catalogues the spatial extent and geologic character of each mine waste feature and is available as a GIS geodatabase that requires appropriate software to view.

Other Information:
Published: 2026
Pages: 8
Location: Utah
Media Type: Paper Publication