The United States Bureau of Mines (USBM) was established in 1910 to improve extraction, processing, distribution, and utilization of resources and provide statistical and economic information about all phases of non-fuel mineral resource development. The agency was closed in 1996 after 85 years of service. After the USBM closure, certain functions such as the collection, analysis, and dissemination of minerals information was transferred to the USGS.
Many of the publications of the USBM that were distributed to Federal depository libraries have been catalogued and digitized and are available from the USGS Library, Technical Report Archive (TRAIL), Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), and HathiTrust. However, the USBM published limited-distribution materials that were not sent to depository libraries. These publications were donated to the USGS when the USBM closed its Western Field Operations Center. The USGS Mineral Resources Program (MRP) has identified the publications needing digitization and preservation to make them accessible to public, private, and Federal, State, and local governmental entities.
Materials on this landing page include, but are not limited to, USBM Open-File Reports (OFR) (1962-1994), Mineral Land Assessment (MLA) Reports (1981-1995), Roadless Area Review and Evaluation II [RARE II] reports (1980-1981) and War Minerals Reports (WMR) (1942-1945).
Historical Files from Federal Government Mineral Exploration-Assistance Programs, 1950 to 1974 are available in USGS Data Series 1004 at: https://pubs.usgs.gov/ds/1004/ds1004_index2.htm. The Defense Minerals Administration (DMA), Defense Minerals Exploration Administration (DMEA), and Office of Minerals Exploration (OME) mineral exploration programs were active over the period 1950–1974. Under these programs, the Federal Government contributed financial assistance in the exploration for certain strategic and critical minerals. The information about a mining property that was collected under these programs was placed in files called dockets. A docket is a collection of material (application, contract, correspondence, maps, reports, results) about a property for which an individual applied for exploration assistance from the Federal Government. Information found in dockets describe where mineral deposits were examined, what was found, and whether it was mined. As such, they provide very useful information to private industry regarding potential and non-potential prospect areas, provide the U.S. Geological Survey with useful information on mineral occurrences that are used in national assessments for particular mineral deposits, and provide other U.S. Federal agencies (Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, and Environmental Protection Agency) information relevant to land management, permitting, and leasing.
