Mining Incidents

Ark River Sand Co. Inc.: 30 MSHA citations Metal/Non-Metal

Eakin Enterprises Inc. · Surface
Controlled by Chad Eakin
Pawnee Rock, Barton County, KS  ·  Active
MSHA Mine ID: 1401764

Ark River Sand Co. Inc. has $9K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 outstanding across 2 contested dockets, plus health sampling and the full incident record.

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Fatalities
0
Total incidents
0
Years on record
Latest incident
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2013
30
citations
12
significant & substantial
$8,960
proposed penalties
$8,820
paid to date
98% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $140 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2013
25
inspections on record
249
inspection hours
n/a
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.
Rate withheld: 249 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

Ark River Sand Co. Inc. has $9K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 outstanding across 2 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.
$9K
proposed penalties
$9K
current assessed
$9K
paid to date
$0
outstanding
30 assessments are final orders; 2 contested dockets.
Of $5K in penalties contested before the Commission, $5K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2025-02-25.
Source: MSHA assessed-violations and conference/litigation data, updated weekly.
Violation severity profile
Shares are computed over citations that carry the MSHA gravity and negligence coding; a small share of records are uncoded.
40.0%
significant & substantial
13.3%
high negligence or reckless
40.0%
reasonably likely or greater
63.3%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 3.3% low, 83.3% moderate, 13.3% high, 0.0% reckless.
Source: MSHA violations gravity and negligence coding, updated weekly.
When citations were contested
Contesting a citation before the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission is a lawful right. These figures state the public outcomes of that process, from MSHA's Contested Violations file.
3 citations taken to the federal commission · 10% of citations on record
  • Settled 3 · 100%
100%
S&S designation survived the contest
Counts a Significant & Substantial citation as surviving when a settlement or judge's decision kept the designation, or the contest was dismissed or defaulted so the citation stands as issued. Vacated and withdrawn citations, and settlements that removed the designation, count against.
of 2 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
3%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$5K proposed, $5K after decisions · industry: 39%
Source: MSHA Contested Violations file (public record), updated weekly. A dismissed or defaulted contest leaves the citation standing as issued; a vacated or withdrawn citation is removed from the violation record. Latest contest filed 2017-05-17.
Contested penalties
A reduction or dismissal at the Commission is a lawful outcome of contesting a proposed penalty. Figures are the proposed amount and the amount upheld in the docket's decision.
Largest penalties this mine contested before the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission, with the outcome on record.
Docket Decision Judge Year Proposed / upheld
CENT 2017-0092 Settlement Lesnick 2017 $5K → $5K
CENT 2017-0330 Settlement Lesnick 2017 $280 → $140
Source: FMSHRC civil penalty dockets and decisions (public record), updated weekly.
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.

Metal and nonmetal contaminants (personal samples)
Many samples are screening measurements of substances with no applicable exposure limit; they are counted as samples but excluded from every over-limit figure. Over-limit shares use only limit-tested samples.

Last sampled: 2025-02-26
4
samples
0
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Respirable dust, <.1mg4
Show the individual readings (4)
Date Contaminant Concentration Limit Conc / limit Occupation
2025-02-26 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Front-end Loader Operator
2024-09-17 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Scraper Operator
2018-09-19 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Front-end Loader Operator
2016-09-29 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Front-end Loader Operator
Source: MSHA respirable dust, quartz, and noise sampling records, updated weekly. Metal/nonmetal contaminant figures come from MSHA's Personal Health Samples and Area Samples files (public record), updated weekly.
Ownership history
  1. Eakin Enterprises Inc. 2013 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2026 2
2025 2
2024 2
2023 2
2022 2
2021 2
2020 2
2019 1
2018 1
2017 1
2016 2
2015 1
2014 2
2013 3
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

Ark River Sand Co. Inc. sits in Barton County, Kansas, where the Census mining category is 2.7% of county employment.

Local economic context
County figures come from the US Census Bureau's American Community Survey, 5-year pooled estimates, so the 2023 vintage covers 2019 through 2023. The Census category is 'mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction', which is broader than MSHA jurisdiction and includes oil and gas workers no mine employs. These figures describe the surrounding county, not this mine, and are not a factor in any specific incident.
Barton County, Kansas · Population 25,275
2.7%
Mining share of county employment
$56,733
Median household income
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2023 5-year estimates.
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
2026 Q2 530 0 0 0.0
2026 Q1 494 0 0 0.0
2025 Q4 452 0 0 0.0
2025 Q3 419 0 0 0.0
2025 Q2 515 0 0 0.0
2025 Q1 434 1 1 2304.1
2024 Q4 433 0 0 0.0
2024 Q3 471 1 0 2123.1
Show 45 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2024 Q2 498 0 0 0.0
2024 Q1 453 0 0 0.0
2023 Q4 363 1 1 2754.8
2023 Q3 470 0 0 0.0
2023 Q2 492 0 0 0.0
2023 Q1 482 2 0 4149.4
2022 Q4 396 0 0 0.0
2022 Q3 382 0 0 0.0
2022 Q2 451 0 0 0.0
2022 Q1 432 0 0 0.0
2021 Q4 305 0 0 0.0
2021 Q3 486 0 0 0.0
2021 Q2 532 0 0 0.0
2021 Q1 474 0 0 0.0
2020 Q4 541 1 0 1848.4
2020 Q3 533 0 0 0.0
2020 Q2 901 0 0 0.0
2020 Q1 552 0 0 0.0
2019 Q4 540 1 0 1851.9
2019 Q3 527 0 0 0.0
2019 Q2 492 0 0 0.0
2019 Q1 213 0 0 0.0
2018 Q4 510 4 2 7843.1
2018 Q3 548 0 0 0.0
2018 Q2 503 3 1 5964.2
2018 Q1 452 0 0 0.0
2017 Q4 483 2 1 4140.8
2017 Q3 542 0 0 0.0
2017 Q2 617 0 0 0.0
2017 Q1 596 2 1 3355.7
2016 Q4 518 0 0 0.0
2016 Q3 518 2 1 3861.0
2016 Q2 554 0 0 0.0
2016 Q1 654 5 1 7645.3
2015 Q4 590 0 0 0.0
2015 Q3 447 0 0 0.0
2015 Q2 472 0 0 0.0
2015 Q1 0 0 0
2014 Q4 487 3 1 6160.2
2014 Q3 621 0 0 0.0
2014 Q2 608 0 0 0.0
2014 Q1 623 0 0 0.0
2013 Q4 562 1 1 1779.4
2013 Q3 749 0 0 0.0
2013 Q2 261 1 1 3831.4

No reportable incidents on file.

MSHA has no recorded reportable accidents for this mine in the current dataset. New reports appear here within a week of being filed.