MS-17 Inventory of Nonmetallic Mining and Processing Operations in Colorado

This 1981 publication was first updated in 2002 as IS-62 Digital Inventory of Nonmetallic Mines and Mining Permit Locations in Colorado. The 2002 version was then used as the base for the May 2022 ArcGIS package which is now included in this download. During the 2022 process, the original plates were flattened, rescanned, and geo-referenced. These files were used to check the locations and attributes in the original data. Additionally, several attributes were added (full reference field, notes) and several fields were removed from the 2002 version due to inaccuracies (e.g., wrong county or 1:24,000-scale quadrangle names were sometimes incorrect). The GIS dataset includes full metadata, the new shapefiles, and a layer file with symbology for ArcGIS. Also included is a 2022 Excel spreadsheet of all entries. The original report includes seventeen plates and text of locations of pits, quarries, and industrial minerals operations and processing plants of nonmetallic mining in Colorado. Covers: Vernal, Grand Junction, Moab, Cortez, Craig, Leadville, Montrose, Durango, Greeley, Denver, Pueblo, Trinidad, Sterling, Limon, Lamar, La Junta, Front Range Corridor and Southwest Pueblo. 39 pages. 17 plates (1:250,000 and 1:100,000). Digital ZIP download. MS-17D

From the Introduction:

Under its legislated duty to “inventory and analyze the state’s mineral resources as to quantity, chemical composition, physical properties, location, and possible use,” the Colorado Geological Survey in 1975 began a series of statewide mine and resource inventories that now includes coal, oil and gas, geothermal, uranium, thorium, and vanadium, with other metallics in progress. As the latest in this series, MS-17 shows the distribution and types of construction material and industrial mineral mining operations, collectively known as the non-fuel non-metallics. Processing and manufacturing facilities have been added as ancillary activities.

Besides their “basic-data” contribution, the maps should help demonstrate 1) the wide variety of non-metals that have been mined in Colorado, 2) the very widespread distribution of these operations compared to metallics and fuels, and 3) the interrelationship of construction materials production, transportation routes, and centers of growth and population.

Geology, Industrial Minerals, Maps

1980s, Adams, Alamosa, Arapahoe, Archuleta, Baca, Bent, Boulder, Chaffee, Cheyenne, Clear Creek, coal, Conejos, conglomerate, Costilla, Crowley, Custer, data, Delta, Denver, digital, Dolores, Douglas, Eagle, El Paso, Elbert, evaporite, free, Fremont, Garfield, Gilpin, gneiss, Grand, gravel, Gunnison, gypsum, Hinsdale, Huerfano, Jackson, Jefferson, Kiowa, Kit Carson, La Plata, Lake, Larimer, Las Animas, Lincoln, Logan, Mesa, mineral, minerals, mining, Moffat, Montezuma, Montrose, Morgan, MS-, Otero, Ouray, Park, Phillips, Pitkin, Prowers, publication, Pueblo, Rio Blanco, Rio Grande, Saguache, San Juan, San Miguel, sand, schist, Sedgwick, sedimentary, sedimentology, statewide, Summit, Teller, travertine, Washington, Weld, Yuma

Schwochow, Stephen D. “MS-17 Inventory of Nonmetallic Mining and Processing Operations in Colorado.” Mining. Map Series. Denver, CO: Colorado Geological Survey, Department of Natural Resources, 1981. https://coloradogeologicalsurvey.org/publications/nonmetallic-mining-processing-operations-colorado.