Mining Incidents

COWBOY CLIFF QUARRY: 5 MSHA citations Metal/Non-Metal

Controlled by Bruce Barth; Marie Barth
RYEGATE, Golden Valley County, MT  ·  Temporarily Idled
MSHA Mine ID: 2402733

COWBOY CLIFF QUARRY has $777 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
2
Years on record
2018
Latest incident
Nov 2018
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2019
5
citations
1
significant & substantial
$777
proposed penalties
$777
paid to date
100% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $0 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2019
7
inspections on record
66
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: 66 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

COWBOY CLIFF QUARRY has $777 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.
$777
proposed penalties
$777
current assessed
$777
paid to date
$0
outstanding
5 assessments are final orders; 0 contested dockets.
As of the most recent assessment on 2019-08-01.
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.
20.0%
significant & substantial
0.0%
high negligence or reckless
20.0%
reasonably likely or greater
40.0%
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.
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: 2019-08-01, 7 years ago
0%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
1
samples
1
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz1
Show the individual readings (1)
Date Contaminant Concentration Limit Conc / limit Occupation
2019-08-01 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.15 0.48 0.31 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. Montana Frontier SandStone LLC 2018 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2026 0
2025 0
2024 1
2023 2
2022 3
2021 0
2020 1
2019 5
2018 5
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

COWBOY CLIFF QUARRY sits in Golden Valley County, Montana, where the Census mining category is 8.7% 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.
Golden Valley County, Montana · Population 840
8.7%
Mining share of county employment
$57,353
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 0 0 0
2026 Q1 0 0 0
2025 Q4 0 0 0
2025 Q3 0 0 0
2025 Q2 0 0 0
2025 Q1 0 0 0
2024 Q4 0 0 0
2024 Q3 105 0 0 0.0
Show 21 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2024 Q2 0 0 0
2024 Q1 100 0 0 0.0
2023 Q4 488 0 0 0.0
2023 Q3 611 0 0 0.0
2023 Q2 0 0 0
2023 Q1 60 0 0 0.0
2022 Q4 32 0 0 0.0
2022 Q3 1,350 0 0 0.0
2022 Q2 940 0 0 0.0
2022 Q1 40 0 0 0.0
2021 Q4 0 0 0
2021 Q3 0 0 0
2021 Q2 0 0 0
2020 Q3 0 0 0
2020 Q2 0 0 0
2020 Q1 260 0 0 0.0
2019 Q4 167 0 0 0.0
2019 Q3 1,231 3 1 2437.0
2019 Q2 1,486 2 0 1345.9
2019 Q1 2,653 0 0 0.0
2018 Q4 2,101 0 0 0.0
No fatalities recorded at this mine.

Reportable incidents

2 on file

2018 · 2 incidents

November 20, 2018 MT · Metal/Non-Metal laborer, blacksmith, bull gang, parts runner, roustabout, pick-up man, pitman POWERED HAULAGE
Montana Frontier SandStone LLC · Struck against a moving object

While dumping contents in dump truck the truck tipped over and ee bumped head.

October 22, 2018 MT · Metal/Non-Metal laborer, blacksmith, bull gang, parts runner, roustabout, pick-up man, pitman HANDTOOLS (NONPOWERED)
Montana Frontier SandStone LLC · Struck by falling object

As EE was chiseling a slab, a large sheet came off the back and bounced up hitting the slab, tipping it toward EE. EE wasn't able to escape fast enough. The slab landed on EE's ankle and foot at a sideways angle.