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Big Branch Highwall Mine: 9 MSHA citations Coal

Controlled by James C Justice III
Keystone, Mcdowell County, WV  ·  Abandoned
MSHA Mine ID: 4609197

Big Branch Highwall Mine has $1K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 outstanding across 0 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 2008
9
citations
1
significant & substantial
$1,134
proposed penalties
$1,134
paid to date
100% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $0 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
See Justice Highwall Mining, Inc.'s full MSHA compliance history →
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2007
4
inspections on record
52
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: 52 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

Big Branch Highwall Mine has $1K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 outstanding across 0 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.
$1K
proposed penalties
$1K
current assessed
$1K
paid to date
$0
outstanding
9 assessments are final orders; 0 contested dockets.
As of the most recent assessment on 2008-01-22.
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.
11.1%
significant & substantial
0.0%
high negligence or reckless
11.1%
reasonably likely or greater
0.0%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 0.0% low, 100.0% moderate, 0.0% high, 0.0% reckless.
Source: MSHA violations gravity and negligence coding, updated weekly.

Big Branch Highwall Mine recorded 0.00 reportable injury cases per 100 full-time workers in 2009.

Injury rate, 2009
ⓘ This rate is reportable injury cases per 100 full-time-equivalent workers per year, computed as 200,000 times cases divided by MSHA operator-reported employee-hours. Cases are injuries MSHA graded degree 01 through 07; accident-only events that hurt no one are excluded, and so are contractor injuries, whose hours do not attach to a single mine. Rates begin in 2000, when quarterly employment reporting starts, and are withheld below 20,000 hours in a year.
0.00
total case rate
0.00
days-away rate
0.000
fatality rate
No reportable injury cases in any year shown. Employee-hours were reported in each of those years, so these are true zeros rather than missing data. Citations, listed in the compliance record above, are inspector-found violations and are counted separately from worker injuries.
Below average. The US coal mining average was 4.16 and the all-US-mining average was 3.36 cases per 100 workers.
In West Virginia, coal mining averaged 4.29 cases per 100 workers that year.
Under 100,000 employee-hours were reported that year, so a single case moves the rate by two or more. Read the figure as approximate.
Year total case rate days-away fatal
2009 * 0.00 0.00 0.000
2008 * 0.00 0.00 0.000
2007 * 0.00 0.00 0.000
* Fewer than 100,000 employee-hours that year; the rate is less stable.
Source: injury cases from MSHA accident and injury records; employee-hours from MSHA quarterly employment reports. Rate is cases per 100 full-time-equivalent workers, operator employees only.
Ownership history
  1. Justice Highwall Mining, Inc. 2006 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
ⓘ Coal production is reported quarterly and lags the current period; the most recent quarters may be incomplete.
Year Employees Coal produced (tons)
2009 23 79,895
2008 28 134,366
2007 28 201,518
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

Big Branch Highwall Mine sits in McDowell County, West Virginia, where the Census mining category is 13.0% 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.
McDowell County, West Virginia · Population 18,413
13.0%
Mining share of county employment
$29,980
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
2009 Q4 16,141 0 0 0.0
2009 Q3 20,824 0 0 0.0
2009 Q2 23,666 0 0 0.0
2009 Q1 15,537 0 0 0.0
2008 Q4 14,556 0 0 0.0
2008 Q3 15,422 0 0 0.0
2008 Q2 10,449 0 0 0.0
2008 Q1 17,292 9 1 520.5
Show 4 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2007 Q4 18,390 0 0 0.0
2007 Q3 15,632 0 0 0.0
2007 Q2 12,232 0 0 0.0
2007 Q1 7,213 0 0 0.0

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.