The directory
246 American operations, working and lost
Every mine, mill, smelter, refinery and separation plant below is a real, sourced operation on US soil — 154 of them still working, and 92 that have closed, been idled or been reclaimed. Filter by what you need, then follow the source links. Status is stated exactly: a project in permitting is not a producing mine, and a mine on care and maintenance is not a dead one.
Headframes over Butte, Montana
Screening plant and stacker conveyor
The trade behind the mines. Every operation in this directory is kept running by firms that never appear on a map — the drillers, the assay labs, the permitting consultants, the haulage outfits. Most of the employment in American mining sits here, and there is no decent public list of it by category.
Listings are free, and none of these categories has been seeded. Nothing appears below until a real firm has been checked and added, because the first invented entry would destroy the value of every real one after it. Until then, each category carries the questions worth asking before you sign with anyone in that trade.
Where to next
How we got here
Saugus, the Comstock, Bingham Canyon, the arsenal of democracy, and the five years in the 1980s when the smelters closed.
MethodHow this list was built
What the status labels mean, which sources were used, what the directory deliberately leaves out, and how to send a correction.
Free listingAdd your business
Suppliers, contractors and service firms are listed free. Every submission is read by a person before it goes up.