This guide works a hardrock or coal mining matter from claim location through closure and, where necessary, through liability for a site somebody else abandoned. It begins with whether the land is open, whether a discovery exists, and whether the maintenance filings are current, because each of those can end an interest independently. It works through surface management and the plan of operations that is where projects are actually decided, the geochemical characterization and water treatment obligations that dominate cost, and the financial assurance analysis that determines whether a project can be built. It covers coal's separate statutory scheme and its applicant violator system, mine safety enforcement with its unusual powers, response cost liability and the good Samaritan problem, corporate structure and the doctrines that cut through it, tribal and cultural consultation, and how each category of dispute is actually litigated.