Extremely hazardous conditions occurring at abandoned non-coal sites such as lead, zinc, and flourspar are also eligible under specific conditions. Mine exploration is a hobby in which people visit abandoned mines, quarries, and sometimes operational mines. This act also established an Abandoned Mine Land (AML) program and fund to address the serious coal mining problems which were abandoned prior to August 3, 1977. Early settlers of Illinois mined numerous outcroppings of coal for local use. The acreage includes areas with exposed refuse material (gob and slurry), tipple sites, toxic or sparsely vegetated spoil banks, and adversely affected water and land.īy 1977, over one million acres of land had been disturbed by coal mining in the United States, having left thousands of open or inadequately sealed mine shafts and slopes, mine gas leaks, mine fires, polluting refuse piles and spoil ridges as well as subsidence problems.Īttention to these serious health and safety conditions and extensive environmental problems led to enactment of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (Public Law 95-78) which set detailed mining and reclamation standards and regulations for all future coal mining activities. Illinois Abandoned Mined Land Reclamation. Of this disturbed acreage, over 22,000 acres were identified as being "problem" acreage. At some mines, signs on Crown and private land. During the years of rapid technological advancement, little attention was given to the serious adverse effects of coal mining.īy the late 1970's over 200,000 acres of land had been affected by surface and deep mining of coal in Illinois. Most abandoned mine sites contain unsecured open holes and tunnels which present hazards to the public. From a record level of 1350 mines in 1935, the number of active coal mines has declined precipitously to about 20 today. Strip mining of coal began around 1910 with the introduction of the steam shovel for removing the overburden.īy the 1960's more than half of the coal mined was by stripping. Railroads allowed for the establishment of large shipping mines.
Large scale mines were opened, having shafts (vertical openings) or slopes (inclined openings) to access the coal seam and provide ventilation. With the onset of industrialization in the mid-1800's the demand for coal began to dramatically increase. These earlier mines, often called "dogholes" were shallow, horizontal tunnels driven into generally thin coal seams.
ABANDONED MINES NEAR ME ARCHIVE
Conservation Inclusive Construction and Development Archive (CICADA) 120 to 130 medium sized abandoned mine sites most likely to have infrastructure, such as tailings dams3, and 317 giant, very large, large or medium sized abandoned mines4.
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