Tens of thousands of metal mines are scattered across the United States and around the world. The earliest known metal objects date from around 7000 BC, and come from several sites in the upland plateaus of Turkey. Georgius Agricola wrote the first mining text De Re Metallicain the year 1556. Early mines were typically small owing to a general lack of mechanization. With the birth of the industrial age and availability of large earth moving machines, the size of metal mines grew.

Today, modern metal mines are among the largest land disturbances on the planet. The approach to mine restoration at any given site, therefore, is inextricably related to the operational history of the mine. Metal mining, or "hardrock" mining, began in the mid-1800's in the Western United States, and earlier in the Eastern U.S. While many abandoned metal mines are unreclaimed, operational mines perform land reclamation daily as required under their operating permits. The following case histories show the complexity of several metal mine restoration projects. Take a tour through the examples and look carefully at the 'before' and 'after' pictures provided.