Inspecting Mine Sites in Colorado Using Unmanned Aircraft Systems
Mining Coal Basin Mine deposits in Pitkin County, Colorado, began in 1895 and continued until 1908 when production ceased for many years. Mid-continent Resources began producing coking coal at the Coal Basin Mine in 1956 and continued until the mine shut down in 1991. The State of Colorado wanted to test the utility of an unmanned aircraft system to map abandoned mine land features as well as vegetation cover on the site. In 2012, Office of Surface Mining (OSM) inspectors and the U.S.