Mining Incidents

Alum Cave #17 Coal

B&W Resources Inc. · Surface
Controlled by Lipari Energy
Littcarr, Knott County, KY  ·  Active
MSHA Mine ID: 1519766

Alum Cave #17 has $54K in proposed MSHA penalties and $302 outstanding across 4 contested dockets, plus health sampling and the full incident record.

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Fatalities
0
Total incidents
14
Years on record
2020–2025
Latest incident
Oct 2025
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2019
160
citations
15
significant & substantial
$54,354
proposed penalties
$48,926
paid to date
90% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $5,428 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2017
39
inspections on record
2,425
inspection hours
6.6
citations per 100 inspection hours
This rate is recorded citations divided by MSHA inspection hours, per 100 hours. It reflects inspection effort, not mine size or production.
160 citations across 2,425 inspection hours.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

Alum Cave #17 has $54K in proposed MSHA penalties and $302 outstanding across 4 contested dockets.

Penalty disposition
Differences between proposed and paid penalties reflect both settlements and conference reductions and amounts still owed. Outstanding is the balance currently owed.
$54K
proposed penalties
$49K
current assessed
$49K
paid to date
$302
outstanding
155 assessments are final orders; 4 contested dockets.
As of the most recent assessment on 2026-04-02.
Source: MSHA assessed-violations and conference/litigation data, updated weekly.

MSHA sampling at Alum Cave #17 shows respirable coal dust averaging 0.12 mg/m3 (100% compliant) across 217 samples.

Health sampling
A sample is a point in time compliance measurement, not an individual exposure history. These figures describe MSHA sampling records and do not establish causation or personal dose.
Respirable coal dust
Respirable coal dust and silica figures cover coal facilities. Dust compliance is measured against the current 1.5 mg/m3 standard; samples predating the 2014 standard are included, so compliance rates are a coarse historical signal.
0.12
dust avg (mg/m3)
0.86
dust max (mg/m3)
100%
within 1.5 mg/m3
217
samples
Most recent sample: 2026-06-11.
Silica (quartz)
10.8
silica avg (%)
35.8
silica max (%)
21
samples
Most recent sample: 2026-06-24.
Noise
0%
over PEL
77
samples
Most recent sample: 2026-06-11.
Source: MSHA respirable dust, quartz, and noise sampling records, updated weekly.
Quarterly safety rates
Citations per million reported employee-hours. Rates begin in 2000, when MSHA's quarterly employment data starts; earlier incidents are counted but cannot be rate-adjusted. Quarters under 100,000 reported hours are greyed: too few hours for a stable rate.
Citations per million employee-hours, as reported to MSHA
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2025 Q4 25,049 9 0 359.3
2025 Q3 6,035 0 0 0.0
2025 Q2 26,205 6 0 229.0
2025 Q1 23,408 7 0 299.0
2024 Q4 24,735 0 0 0.0
2024 Q3 17,723 1 0 56.4
2024 Q2 19,057 15 2 787.1
2024 Q1 24,734 0 0 0.0
Show 21 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2023 Q4 27,205 8 1 294.1
2023 Q3 27,795 2 0 72.0
2023 Q2 21,958 14 1 637.6
2023 Q1 27,015 18 1 666.3
2022 Q4 23,938 13 4 543.1
2022 Q3 23,549 4 0 169.9
2022 Q2 21,494 12 1 558.3
2022 Q1 19,989 1 0 50.0
2021 Q4 20,042 4 1 199.6
2021 Q3 25,129 3 0 119.4
2021 Q2 26,769 10 1 373.6
2021 Q1 24,525 3 1 122.3
2020 Q4 26,406 2 1 75.7
2020 Q3 28,984 3 0 103.5
2020 Q2 21,018 3 0 142.7
2020 Q1 18,507 0 0 0.0
2019 Q4 20,938 8 0 382.1
2019 Q3 14,485 10 0 690.4
2019 Q2 12,381 1 1 80.8
2019 Q1 6,298 0 0 0.0
2018 Q4 2,938 0 0 0.0
No fatalities recorded at this mine.

Reportable incidents

14 on file

2025 · 1 incident

October 8, 2025 KY · Coal welder (non-shop) MACHINERY
B&W Resources Inc. · Contact with hot objects or substances

Employee was welding cracks in a tube on a 777 Rock Truck when some grease that was in the tube got to hot and shot out of the tube burning our employee

2024 · 2 incidents

September 12, 2024 KY · Coal drill operator SLIP OR FALL OF PERSON
B&W Resources Inc. · Fall to the walkway or working surface

EE was operating an Ingersoll Rand drill near the outer edge of EE's drill bench when EE attempted to dismount the drill. As EE stepped off of the drill onto the berm, EE's footing gave way and EE fell. This resulted in a fracture to EE's left arm just above EE's wrist.

January 17, 2024 KY · Coal front-end loader, scraper-loader operator, pan operator, payloader, scraper rig operator POWERED HAULAGE
B&W Resources Inc. · Struck against a moving object

The employee's left shoulder was injured when the left side of the loader bucket on the caterpillar 992G EE was operating caught a large rock. This caused the employee's upper body to twist to the left causing pain in EE's shoulder.

2023 · 2 incidents

July 19, 2023 KY · Coal greaser, grease man, oiler, lube man, dragline oiler HANDLING OF MATERIALS
B&W Resources Inc. · Over-exertion in lifting objects

The employee injured their back while removing a grease pump from an empty tank.

May 15, 2023 KY · Coal haul/off road/coal/ore/pit/quarry/rock/rubber tire truck driver, transportation truck driver POWERED HAULAGE
B&W Resources Inc. · Struck against a moving object

A gravel truck hauling sandstone from the mine site ran into the ditch line while attempting to pass an empty coal truck coming on to the mine site. The accident resulted in deep bruising to the Mar-kel truck driver and lost work days.

2022 · 3 incidents

June 21, 2022 KY · Coal bulldozer operator, universal operator, heavy equipment operator, operating engineer SLIP OR FALL OF PERSON
B&W Resources Inc. · Fall onto or against objects

The employee was climbing onto a D9T dozer when the employee slipped on the wet track. As employee fell employee stuck right hand out to catch self and cut it on the back of the blade.

March 3, 2022 KY · Coal FIRE
B&W Resources Inc. · Accident type, without injuries

It is believed that an oil inlet line ruptured or separated near the turbo causing the fire.

February 4, 2022 KY · Coal driller, highwall operator, highwall drill operator SLIP OR FALL OF PERSON
B&W Resources Inc. · Fall onto or against objects

As the employee dismounted drill, employee slipped on the lower step and dropped to the ground. When this occurred the top step struck employee in the mouth and broke part of the left top front tooth off. The broken piece was found and reattached by employee's dentist later that day.

2021 · 5 incidents

November 29, 2021 KY · Coal mechanic helper HANDTOOLS (NONPOWERED)
B&W Resources Inc. · Struck by flying object

The employee received a small laceration on the left side of EE's nose. This occurred after a small piece of metal broke loose from a pressing plate that EE was hammering on and struck EE in the nose.

October 8, 2021 KY · Coal front-end loader, scraper-loader operator, pan operator, payloader, scraper rig operator HANDLING OF MATERIALS
B&W Resources Inc. · Over-exertion (Not Elsewhere Classified)

The employee injured EE's back while dismounting a 992G loader. The injury appeared to be a muscle strain on EE's left side. EE refused initial medical attention but later visited EE's primary care physician when the soreness didn't subside. EE was treated and given a full release.

July 9, 2021 KY · Coal front-end loader, scraper-loader operator, pan operator, payloader, scraper rig operator POWERED HAULAGE
B&W Resources Inc. · Struck against a moving object

The employee claims that as EE was being loaded, a rock jarred EE's truck causing an injury to EE's neck.

April 22, 2021 KY · Coal maintenance man, mechanic, repair/serviceman, boilermaker, fueler, tire tech, field service tech OTHER
B&W Resources Inc. · Bodily reaction, (Not Elsewhere Classified)

EE experienced back pain as EE mounted a drill, stood up and turned to EE's right. This resulted in sharp pain originating in lower back and traveling down left leg.

March 16, 2021 KY · Coal bulldozer operator, universal operator, heavy equipment operator, operating engineer POWERED HAULAGE
B&W Resources Inc. · Struck against a moving object

While dumping material to reclaim a highwall, a Rock Truck driver got to close to the dozer running the dump and backed into the rear of the cab. This resulted in damage to the dozer's operated cab and caused the dozer operator to strain a muscle in EE's neck.

2020 · 1 incident

June 24, 2020 KY · Coal quality control technician, laboratory technician, laboratory assistant HANDTOOLS (NONPOWERED)
B&W Resources Inc. · Struck by... (Not Elsewhere Classified)

The employee injured the small finger on right hand as employee was driving post for a silk curtain near the hollow fill pond. Injury resulted in 4 stitches.

For insurers, brokers, and safety consultants

The full compliance file on Alum Cave #17

A dated report covering the 26-year penalty trail, line-item violation pattern, contest and docket posture, rate-normalized peer benchmark, and full fatality history. Delivered as a PDF with the underlying data as CSV.