Mine Mapping and Records of Opening, Closing, and Reopening of Mines

This information collection protects miners by assuring that up-to-date, accurate mine maps contain the information needed to clarify the best alternatives for action during an emergency operation. Also, coal mine operators routinely use maps to create safe and effective development plans. Mine maps are schematic depictions of critical mine infrastructure, such as water, power, transportation, ventilation, and communication systems. Using accurate, up-to-date maps during a disaster, mine emergency personnel can locate refuges for miners and identify sites of explosion potential; they can know where stationary equipment was placed, where ground was secured, and where they can best begin a rescue operation. During a disaster, maps can be crucial to the safety of the emergency personnel who must enter a mine to begin a search for survivors. Mine maps may describe the current status of an operating mine or provide crucial information about a long-closed mine that is being reopened. Coal mine operators use map information to develop safe and effective plans and to help determine hazards before beginning work in areas, such as abandoned underground mines or the worked-out and inaccessible areas of an active underground or surface mine. Abandoned mines or inaccessible areas of active mines may have water inundation potentials and explosive levels of methane or lethal gases. If an operator, unaware of the hazards, were to mine into such an area, miners could be killed or seriously injured.

The latest form for Mine Mapping and Records of Opening, Closing, and Reopening of Mines expires 2022-01-31 and can be found here.