RockWoof
Check access before you go. Most sites listed here are old mines, quarries or prospects, and many are on private land or active mining claims. Get the landowner's permission, check the rules of the agency that manages any public land, and never enter mine workings. Locations are approximate.

Sketch map

Castle Rock Mine (Past Producer)Quarry (Past Producer)Martin Prospect (Prospect)Starkey Mine (Past Producer)Gale Mine (Past Producer)Roanoke Electric Steel/Roanoke, Va. (Unknown)Rorer Iron Mines (Past Producer)Griffin Mine (Past Producer)Griffin Mine (Past Producer)Reed Mine (Past Producer)Frank W Read Farm Mine (Past Producer)Reed Mine (Past Producer)Bonsacks Prospect (Occurrence)Roanoke (Occurrence)Unnamed Prospect (Prospect)Bush Farm Prospect + 2 more nearby (Prospect)T M Bush & H L Hutchins Prop Mine (Past Producer)
Past ProducerProducerProspectOccurrenceStatus unknown
17 paw pins; nearby sites are grouped into one pin. Hover or tap a pin for the site name. 1 site(s) with USGS coordinates outside the outline are not pinned. County outline: US Census Bureau cartographic boundary file (2023). Locations approximate.

Field cards: what kind of sites?

12
Past Producer

Produced ore or material at some point in the past.

5
Prospect

Explored or test-dug, with no recorded production.

2
Occurrence

The mineral was noted here, without development.

1
Unknown

Status not recorded.

Status terms come from USGS MRDS records.

Minerals recorded here

Barite 1

Commodities

Iron 8Titanium 6Barium-Barite 3Zinc 2Metal 1

Sites

SiteCommodityMinerals recordedStatusApprox. location
Reed MineBarium-BariteBaritePast Producer37.309, -79.925
RoanokeTitanium, Metal—Occurrence37.283, -79.883
Griffin MineIron—Past Producer37.197, -79.950
Rorer Iron MinesIron—Past Producer37.226, -79.944
Poor Mountain MineIron—Past Producer37.168, -80.208
Bush Farm ProspectTitanium—Prospect37.279, -79.868
Roanoke Electric Steel/Roanoke, Va.Iron—Unknown37.282, -79.939
Reed MineBarium-Barite—Past Producer37.307, -79.922
Unnamed ProspectTitanium—Prospect37.276, -79.863
T M Bush & H L Hutchins Prop MineTitanium—Past Producer37.284, -79.852
Unnamed ProspectTitanium—Prospect37.286, -79.863
Griffin MineIron—Past Producer37.183, -79.950
Gale MineIron—Past Producer37.193, -79.970
Quarry——Past Producer37.329, -80.025
Bonsacks ProspectZinc—Occurrence37.304, -79.882
Starkey MineIron—Past Producer37.188, -79.986
Frank W Read Farm MineBarium-Barite—Past Producer37.314, -79.911
Castle Rock MineIron—Past Producer37.256, -80.046
Martin ProspectZinc—Prospect37.230, -79.988
Bush Farm ProspectTitanium—Prospect37.279, -79.868

Fossil collections

The Paleobiology Database lists 2 fossil collection records in Roanoke County. These are research records, not public dig sites.

Nearby counties

Roanoke city · Botetourt County · Franklin city · Bedford County · Craig County

Virginia mineral guides

Back to all Virginia counties.

Related articles

How we built this page: we counted named sites in the USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) for this area, left out sand, gravel, crushed stone, clay pits and unnamed sites, grouped them by Census county, and linked every site to its USGS record. We did not visit these sites, and MRDS does not tell you who owns the land or whether collecting is allowed.

Source: USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS). USGS ceased systematic updates to MRDS around 2011, so status and details may be out of date. Each site links to its USGS record.

Updated