As a source of inspiration for us all, I wanted to mention that the geological society of Tasmania treats historic mine preservation very seriously and has developed a pamphlet to address matters of heritage when dealing with abandoned mines (and particularly when mines are to be reworked). They advocate photographing, documenting and preserving mines and artifacts. Among the details are describing the manner in which a site was mined and when, performing measurements of tunnels, documenting type of wood used in timbering, and even preserving "old mine workings, which demonstrate in a practical way, the technology available at various times..." They are still able to acknowledge the dangers and advocate closing shafts in a historically sensitive way.

Take a look... http://www.mrt.tas.gov.au/mrtdoc/dominfo/download/UR1996_02/UR1996_02.pdf

Maybe one day we will start to view mines with true unadulterated historic interest, before too many get wiped off the map.

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"If you thought old, abandoned mines were only in the west, then you haven't been to IronMiners.com!"

Kudos to Tasmania! Tasmania does not have lawsuits, greedy lawyers and fear mongers like we do. We can look to them as a model, We are far from this mentality, but I think we can make an impact and hopefully help change this one day.

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www.abandonedmines.net

I would have to agree with you Dan. I think we have made an impact so far in at least bringing awareness into the history behind Mining, hopefully we will be able to enlarge that scope further.

Miner Greg