Mining Incidents

Black Mountain Screening Plant: 48 MSHA citations Metal/Non-Metal

Controlled by Barbara Spurgeon
Lovelock, Pershing County, NV  ·  Abandoned
MSHA Mine ID: 2602636

Black Mountain Screening Plant has $27K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 outstanding across 4 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
48
citations
13
significant & substantial
$26,554
proposed penalties
$26,554
paid to date
100% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $0 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2008
17
inspections on record
202
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: 202 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

Black Mountain Screening Plant has $27K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 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.
$27K
proposed penalties
$27K
current assessed
$27K
paid to date
$0
outstanding
48 assessments are final orders; 4 contested dockets.
Of $13K in penalties contested before the Commission, $13K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2012-10-23.
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.
27.1%
significant & substantial
20.8%
high negligence or reckless
27.1%
reasonably likely or greater
60.4%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 2.1% low, 77.1% moderate, 20.8% 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.
9 citations taken to the federal commission · 19% of citations on record
  • Stood as issued 9 · 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 3 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
0%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$13K proposed, $13K 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 2011-03-17.
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
WEST 2009-422M Default Lesnick 2011 $7K → $7K
WEST 2009-371M Default Lesnick 2010 $5K → $5K
WEST 2011-772M Dismissal Lesnick 2013 $1K → $1K
WEST 2009-372M Default Lesnick 2010 $108 → $108
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: 2010-03-04, 16 years ago
6
samples
0
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz6
Show the individual readings (6)
Date Contaminant Concentration Limit Conc / limit Occupation
2010-03-04 Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz 1.55 Dry Screen Plant Operator
2009-04-15 Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz 3.09 Dry Screen Plant Operator
2009-04-15 Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz 1.74 Dry Screen Plant Operator
2008-03-11 Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz 0.99 Front-end Loader Operator
2008-03-11 Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz 3.39 Dry Screen Plant Operator
2008-03-11 Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz 2.32 Dry Screen Plant 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. Black Mountain Industrial Minerals LLC 2008 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2013 0
2012 1
2011 3
2010 4
2009 4
2008 5
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

Black Mountain Screening Plant sits in Pershing County, Nevada, where the Census mining category is 20.4% 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.
Pershing County, Nevada · Population 6,505
20.4%
Mining share of county employment
$72,007
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
2013 Q2 0 0 0
2012 Q4 0 3 0
2012 Q3 1,040 0 0 0.0
2012 Q2 426 14 7 32863.8
2011 Q1 888 3 1 3378.4
2010 Q4 568 0 0 0.0
2010 Q3 568 4 0 7042.3
2010 Q2 681 0 0 0.0
Show 9 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2010 Q1 718 3 0 4178.3
2009 Q4 566 0 0 0.0
2009 Q3 707 0 0 0.0
2009 Q2 307 3 0 9772.0
2009 Q1 1,144 0 0 0.0
2008 Q4 1,148 4 1 3484.3
2008 Q3 835 2 1 2395.2
2008 Q2 1,038 0 0 0.0
2008 Q1 517 11 3 21276.6

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.