Paul Coyle, Office of Surface Mine Reclamation and Enforcement, (OSMRE), “National Mine Map Repository”

1. National Mine Map Repository
Office of Surface Mining
Reclamation and Enforcement
Paul R Coyle
Team Leader/Geologist National Mine Map Repository

2. The National Mine Map Repository
(NMMR) is responsible for
collecting, inventorying, and
processing mine maps from
across the United States.

3. 1969 - MMR is established by Congress, due to a 1968 mine flooding
incident in West Virginia.
1970 - The MMR is placed under DOI (Bureau of Mines).
The following regional offices are established:
• Pittsburgh, PA
• Wilkes-Barre, PA (anthracite only)
• Denver, CO (disbanded 1982)
• Spokane, WA (disbanded 1982)
• Juneau, AK (disbanded 1982)
1983 - The Pittsburgh and Wilkes-Barre offices are
transferred to the Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and
Enforcement (OSMRE) from the Bureau of Mines.
1996 - The OSMRE acquires the Denver, and Spokane collections.
1997 - The repository in Pittsburgh is established as the NMMR.
2010 – The OSMRE Wilkes-Barre Office is closed, and its Repository is
moved to the NMMR
Current – The NMMR is maintained only in Pittsburgh, PA.
History – National Mine Map Repository

4. The NMMR received the whole BOM Pittsburgh mine map
repository, the complete repository from Wilkes-Barre
perhaps the whole collection from Spokane, only a part of
the materials from the Denver repository, and no data
from the Juneau office.
With the acquisition of the western mine maps, the
Pittsburgh repository expanded its scope of responsibility
to a national repository of mine maps.
The Wilkes-Barre Folio Collection was scanned at a higher
resolution and color depth at the NMMR and then the
collection was transferred to PADEP in Wilkes-Barre

5. National Mine Map Repository (NMMR) is located at the
OSMRE Appalachian Region (AR) office: 3 Parkway
Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 15220.
Location of OSM National Mine Map
Repository:

6. •160,000 (approximate) maps, both coal and non-coal
mines
•Most are east of the Mississippi, but we are working to
increase the number of maps from the western states
•Abandoned mines only; no active operations
•Non-coal mine maps include: gold; silver; uranium;
iron; feldspar; lead; zinc; tin; and salt mines
Number and Types of Maps

7. Number of Maps by State*
Top 10 States
States Coal Non-Coal Total States Coal Non-Coal Total
WV 50303 669 50972 ID 0 0 629
PA 19091 1328 20419 WY 493 126 619
CO 3939 10021 13960 MD 528 34 562
MI 437 10382 10819 ME 0 541 541
VA 7732 1893 9625 WI 0 504 504
MO 7 9240 9247 CT 0 476 476
KY 7466 332 7798 NJ 0 456 456
NM 245 3357 3602 CA 1 420 421
MN 0 3076 3076 AR 360 15 375
IL 2409 370 2779 ND 261 111 372
IN 2631 29 2660 NH 0 230 230
AZ 1 2560 2561 IA 0 141 141
OK 213 2111 2324 VT 1 113 114
AL 1203 564 1767 MS 0 84 84
TN 1090 628 1718 MA 7 52 59
NC 8 1593 1601 SC 1 53 54
UT 405 838 1243 AK 1 36 37
NY 0 1228 1228 DE 0 5 5
NV 5 1084 1089 TX 2 2 4
MT 22 1018 1040 LA 0 1 1
WA 181 675 856 RI 1 0 1
OR 9 803 812 FL 0 0 0
SD 2 752 754 HI 0 0 0
GA 15 728 743 NE 0 0 0
KS 369 369 738 99439 59048 159116 Accounts for 83% of all
the Maps in Repository
States Coal Non-Coal Total
WV 50303 669 50972
PA 19091 1328 20419
CO 3939 10021 13960
MI 437 10382 10819
VA 7732 1893 9625
MO 7 9240 9247
KY 7466 332 7798
NM 245 3357 3602
MN 0 3076 3076
IL 2409 370 2779
91629 40668 132297
*As of July, 2013

8. Some of the information that can be found
in the repository includes:
•Mine and Company names
•Mine plans including mains, rooms and pillars, man-ways, shafts,
and mine surface openings
•Geological information including: bed name, thickness, and depth,
drill-hole data, cross-sections, elevation contours, structures, coal
quality data, outcrops, and mineral assay’s
•Property ownership
•Adjacent mines
•Geographical data
•Gas well and drill-hole locations

9. These mine maps are stored on both microfilm and
electronic media, and are irreplaceable.
Hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of other maps
exist, but they are widely scattered and at risk of
disposal or deterioration with each passing year.
It is imperative that these records are captured and
made available to minimize future safety and
environmental risks.

10. Mine Map that is deteriorating rapidly and is on the verge of not
being able to be opened or read.

12. There is currently no National Repository to archive
non-coal mine maps, leading to numerous mine maps
that might be lost forever.
With the growth of suburbs into previously mined
areas, the need for a national archive of maps increases
for life-saving, subsidence, and environmental studies.
Non-Coal Mine Maps

13. Mine Map Archiving

14. Each mine map or mine map scan is assigned a
unique document number. The document number is
attached to a data sheet, used to collect information
off the map. This number is used to name the scans
and is also placed on the aperture card and map scan.

15. The document number placed on the scan.

16. Document numbers:
Separated by State and region
000000’s – Anthracite fields of eastern PA
300000’s – Maps east of the Mississippi
400000’s – Maps west of the Mississippi
500000’s – Maps in the northwest corner of the
USA
600000’s – TN
700000’s – KY
800000’s – VA
900000’s - WV

17. Storage of data
1) The NMMR currently has available 500TB of storage
2) Digital storage is backed-up every week
3) Map scans are saved in three places:
a) Raw data under the state ID number, if scan
was provided by a state or other repository
b) Uncompressed Tiff file – saved with our
document number in final scans
c) A 25% jpeg in final scans
d) As microfilm in our archives
4) The map data is then entered into our database.

18. Why still use aperture cards to archive
mine maps?
The change in digital storage and software:
1) 5 ¼ “ floppy disc”: The University of Pittsburgh has
only one drive that will read these, unfortunately
some word processing software can’t be opened
anymore.
2) 3 ½ “ floppy disc”: Try to find one on a new
computer
3) CD’s and DVD’s have a limited shelf life ~ 2-3 years
4) In 50 years what’s a TIFF file, CD, or DVD
5) NASA 1970’s Mars Mission
6) Academy of Motion Pictures
A aperture card can always be read with a light
source and a flat surface.

19. NMMR Database
The NMMR uses a Sequel database

20. Mine map data base information can be
queried by:
•Document Number
•State, County and Quadrangle
•Mine Name
•Company Name
•Commodity
•Lat and Long, UTM, TRS
•Cross-reference Number
•Area around a Lat/Long point (.5 mile, 1 mile etc.)
•Postal Zip Code Area

21. NMMR Web-Site
http://mmr.osmre.gov/

22. "Preserving Mine Maps for Future Generations"
Welcome to THE NATIONAL MINE MAP REPOSITORY
1) The National Mine Map Repository (NMMR) has recently added the capability for the public to search the
database of all mine maps in the collection.
2) This new search capability will permit the public and other customers to directly identify mine maps
themselves.
3) Additional search capabilities are planned in the future, including the ability to perform a radius spatial search
based on a zip code and lat/longs.
.

23. Maps can be located by:
State
County
Company Name
Mine Name

24. About the NMMR NMMR Brochure
NMMR Cooperation with local university
in industry - Press Release
Search the NMMR Map Index by State,
County, Company, or Mine Name -
New!
What Information is Available from the
NMMR?
State-of-the-Art Equipment and
Services
The History of the NMMR Donating Mine Maps to the Repository
NMMR Links Repository Power Point Presentation
Information on the NMMR found on the
web-site

25. National Mine Map
Repository Equipment
State of the art

26. Before we talk about the equipment, some
definitions
DPI – dots per square inch, I like calling it data points
per square inch
Black and White – only 2 color choices per data point
Grayscale – either 8 steps between black and white
gives you 256 shades of gray
24bit color – 24 color choices per data point – 16.8
million color combos
48bit color – 48 color choices per data point – trillions of
color combos

27. As DPI and Color increase the size of the of the file increases
A map digital file size scanned at 300dpi 24bit color is 4
times smaller then one scanned at 600dpi 48bit color.

28. Mine Map Scanners

29. Cruse Table Scanner
CS 285/1100 ST/FA, V. 1.1 Table
Size: 60” X 90”
Recently Upgrade to a new
scanner head, control box and
LED lights Scans 4X faster, no
warm up time and better
resolution, up to 600dpi.
“TOM”

30. Cruse Table
Scanner
CS 285/1100 ST/FA, Table
Size 48”X60” up to 600dpi
“Lucy”

31. Cruse Portal
Scanner
600DPI 48Bit Color
80”X120” Table
Reduced to 300DPI 24Bit
Color
“Gus”

32. Colortrac Smart GT 56” wide format Mine Map Scanner.
“Mr. Roboto”

33. Wicks and Wilson Aperture Card Scanners
1) Up to True 400 DPI
2) Black & White and
Grayscale
3) Great increase in quality
4) C-Drives are available to be
loaned
C-Drive
C-250
C-400

34. Older scans – state of the art of the time, cards could
only be scanned at 200dpi B&W . Aperture cards
were damaged by being caught in the scanner.
New scans – state of the art now, cards scanned at
300dpi grayscale. Aperture cards are not damaged
due to the mechanics of the scanner.

35. Difference in quality between new and old scanners

36. Ability to read writing

37. Ability to read assays

39. Types of Coal Mining

43. Retreat mining – mining pillars that were left behind after
room and pillar extraction initially are removed, or "pulled",
retreating back towards the mine's entrance. After the pillars
are removed, the roof is allowed to collapse behind the
mining area. Also called drawing and robbing.

44. Could be called Drawn, Pillard,
Robbed or Retreat mining

45. Whole area marked as robbed no way to know
how many if any pillars are left

46. Auger mining, method for recovering coal by boring into a coal seam at the
base of strata exposed by excavation. Augering is usually associated with
contour strip mining, recovering coal for a limited depth beyond the point where
stripping becomes uneconomical.

47. Strip Mined
Auger Mined
Mine Entry
Room and Pillar
Robbed?
Coal Thickness and Elevation
Ventilation Entry
Examples of information found on a mine map

48. PA Second Geological Survey Map - 1882

49. Examples of data found in
the NMMR

51. Oldest date found on a
map

52. Series of Defense Minerals
Exploration Administration:
1) Produced by the USGS and
BOM
2) ~ 1947 – 1955
3) Feasibility studies
4) Strategic minerals
5) Consisted of original typed
report and mimeographed
copies
6) The only complete set is at the
Spokane office of the USGS
7) Were microfilmed in the Denver
BOM office

53. 1859 Anthracite Coal Mine Map

54. Mining during the Civil War

55. 1881 Ohio Coal Mine Map

56. Property map and workings – Cambria Iron Company, Bedford, CO

57. 2005 Kentucky Coal Mine Map

58. 1954 Nevada Silver, Lead/Zinc Mine Map

59. Plan to Mine the Meteor in Meteor Crater, AZ

60. Finally the NMMR is always:
1. Looking for Mine Maps to add to our archives.
2. Willing to aid clients in obtaining mining and
geological information