Point layer · Minerals & Subsurface
Mineral deposits map, commodity by commodity
USGS MRDS mines and deposits, filterable by commodity.
This mineral deposits map covers more than 300,000 recorded occurrences, with each record's commodity codes parsed into the metal it actually is. Filter to gold and you get gold — not every deposit whose code happens to contain the letters.
- Source
- USGS
- Refresh
- Monthly
- Geometry
- Point
- Included from
- Complete ($499/mo)
Why Mine Locations matters
Surface and mineral estates were severed across much of the West a century ago, and the mineral estate is generally dominant. A parcel bought for surface use can be drilled by someone else. Read the other direction, mineral occurrence data is the map of what is worth acquiring in the first place — and lithium in particular has made historically marginal occurrences worth another look.
Questions Mine Locations answers
- What has been found within ten miles of this parcel, and by whom?
- Where are the lithium occurrences relative to available water?
- Which past producers sit near current claim activity?
- Does this parcel carry mineral upside the surface listing ignores?
What is in the Mine Locations data
Coverage: Western US mineral occurrences, prospects, and past and present producers. Source dataset: Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS).
| Field | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Commodity | Primary and secondary commodities recorded at the site. |
| Development status | Occurrence, prospect, past producer or producer. |
| Deposit type | Geologic model assigned to the occurrence. |
| Site name | Recorded mine or claim name, often the thread back to historical records. |
How we serve Mine Locations
MRDS is filterable by commodity with a fixed color per commodity shared between map and legend. Upstream MRDS is prone to timeouts; we fail fast at eight seconds and return an empty collection rather than block the UI, and the layer surfaces its own last-successful-refresh.
Mineral deposits map — source, refresh and coverage
- Steward
- USGS
- Dataset
- Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS)
- Refresh cadence
- Monthly
- Coverage
- Western US mineral occurrences, prospects, and past and present producers
- Records
- 304,632 rows
- Geometry
- Point
- Included from
- Complete ($499/mo/mo)
Who uses Mine Locations
Mining & Exploration
Deposits, active claims, protected land and the water to run a mine — on one map.
Water Rights Investing
Price seniority, spot the mismatch between paper water and wet water, and find positions before they are listed.
Legal & Title Diligence
Authoritative records, chain context and export-ready evidence for adjudication and title work.
Energy Development
Route corridors, site generation, and clear the environmental picture before the first landowner call.
Read Mine Locations alongside
BLM Claims
Active mining claims on federal land — who already staked it.
Oil/Gas Leases
Federal oil and gas lease parcels and their status.
Fault Lines
Quaternary faults — the geology your structural engineer will ask about.
Protected Areas
PAD-US conserved lands by GAP status — what is off the table, and what only looks like it.
Terms used on this page
See Mine Locations on the map
This layer is included from Complete ($499/mo) upward, alongside every other layer in the Complete coverage.