Missouri
Mining and Land Reclamation
The Missouri Department of Natural Resources says it works to restore mined lands to a beneficial use and to guard public health, safety and the environment against the harm mining can do. The department's viewer page says its Land Reclamation Program enforces the Land Reclamation Act and the Metallic Minerals Waste Management Act under direction of the Missouri Mining Commission, while its Metallic Mineral Permitting page says the authority to cite a metal producer rests solely with the department's director. The department lists the upkeep of reclaimed abandoned mine lands among its land reclamation duties.
In a Phase I ESA
ASTM E1527-21 does not name mine records among its standard record sources. On a property that was quarried, mined or used to hold mine waste, or that sits over old underground workings, they show what was permitted and what was reclaimed. Four Missouri details shape the search.
- Three kinds of permit. The Land Reclamation Program permits industrial mineral mining, which the department says covers minerals such as gravel, limestone, granite, clay, barite, sand and shale. The department's LRIS page says commercial operations need a permit from the Missouri Mining Commission to extract industrial minerals after January 1, 1972. The department also issues metallic mineral waste management permits, and the Land Reclamation Program is the contact for a permit to mine coal.
- Reclamation is checked at bond release. For industrial mineral mines, the department says a bond release inspection checks that a mine was reclaimed as its plan required and that the designated post-mining land use is in place: wildlife habitat, agricultural, development or industrial, or water impoundment. On a former quarry or pit, ask whether the bond was released and which use the plan named.
- Metallic mine waste areas carry closure plans. For a metallic mineral waste management permit, the department says the closure and inspection-maintenance plans must be reviewed and updated every five years. The issues the plans address include tailings dams, groundwater protection and designated land uses.
- Most surface coal mining came before the federal law. The department says most surface coal mining in Missouri came before the federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, and that before the act many mines were abandoned, leaving hazards such as dangerous highwalls, open portals, air shafts and burning mine refuse. The act set up a fund to reclaim mined land abandoned before August 3, 1977, the department says.
Mine maps
The department says its Missouri Geological Survey serves as the official Missouri Mine Map Repository, which the legislature established in 1993 for public safety and the protection of property (section 256.112 of the Revised Statutes). The repository page says it holds more than 2,000 maps of underground mines of various minerals. The department's Mine Shafts page says the repository's downloadable database lists more than 1,000 former and abandoned mines. Where old underground mining is possible, search the repository's list by township, range and section.
Where to look a site up
- The Industrial Mineral Mines and Metallic Mineral Mine Waste Management Areas Viewer shows active permitted sites, with the long-term mine plan boundary, the current bonded and permitted areas and operator contacts. The Metallic Mineral Permitting page links a list of the metallic mineral waste management permits now issued.
- The Abandoned Mine Lands Viewer shows locations reclaimed from coal, lead and zinc mining. The department says its data set holds major coal reclamation projects the program completed between 2000 and 2014, and that the viewer does not show every location of mining activity in the state.
- The Missouri Mine Map Repository page offers a numeric list and a legal description list of the maps, and a tool to locate and download them.
- The Mine Shafts page says mine information is also in the Inventory of Mines, Occurrences and Prospects (IMOP) layer of the department's GeoSTRAT map.
- The Land Reclamation Program is at 573-751-4041 and mining@dnr.mo.gov. The repository page gives the Missouri Geological Survey's line, 573-368-2100.
Getting the file
The Mine Map Repository page offers a tool to locate and download available maps. The pages read give no records route specific to mining permits; the department's general route is the Sunshine Law request.
Sources
Missouri Department of Natural Resources pages, read October 16, 2026, no modified date shown: