New Idria Mining Area, California

New Idria is a ghost town and former mining site in the Diablo Range of central California, notable especially for its remoteness and isolation, as much as for its unique history and the picturesque nature of its mostly abandoned buildings. The town supported a cinnabar mine (a mineral that is used to produce mercury, or quicksilver) that operated from around 1850 to 1971, when it was the second most productive mercury mine in North America. In 2011, the EPA declared the mine to be a Superfund Cleanup site. Remediation efforts are ongoing. The area is next to one of the major asbestos mining regions in the USA, also inactive now.