COAL_MINE_SURFACE_IN is a polygon-based ESRI ArcGIS shapefile that shows the location and extent of surface coal mines in the coal region of west-central and southwestern Indiana. COAL_MINE_SURFACE_IN includes mine locations from documented surface mines that operated in Indiana since the late 1800s. COAL_MINE_SURFACE_IN is attributed to allow the mine polygons to be differentiated based on mine number, source information, and dates of mining.