Mining Incidents

Eljay Cone: 15 MSHA citations Metal/Non-Metal

Steve James Excavating Inc · Surface
Controlled by Steve D James
Owatonna, Steele County, MN  ·  Intermittent
MSHA Mine ID: 2104050

Eljay Cone has $4K in proposed MSHA penalties and $4K 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 2025
15
citations
2
significant & substantial
$4,206
proposed penalties
$151
paid to date
4% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $4,055 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2024
4
inspections on record
28
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: 28 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

Eljay Cone has $4K in proposed MSHA penalties and $4K 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.
$4K
proposed penalties
$4K
current assessed
$151
paid to date
$4K
outstanding
1 assessments are final orders; 0 contested dockets.
As of the most recent assessment on 2026-07-21.
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.
13.3%
significant & substantial
53.3%
high negligence or reckless
13.3%
reasonably likely or greater
86.7%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 0.0% low, 46.7% moderate, 53.3% high, 0.0% reckless.
Source: MSHA violations gravity and negligence coding, updated weekly.
Ownership history
  1. Steve James Excavating Inc 2023 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2026 1
2025 2
2024 2
2023 1
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

Eljay Cone sits in Steele County, Minnesota, where the Census mining category is 0.1% 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.
Steele County, Minnesota · Population 37,413
0.1%
Mining share of county employment
$83,448
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 40 0 0 0.0
2026 Q1 0 0 0
2025 Q4 120 0 0 0.0
2025 Q3 100 1 0 10000.0
2025 Q2 60 0 0 0.0
2025 Q1 0 0 0
2024 Q4 0 0 0
2024 Q3 100 0 0 0.0
Show 5 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2024 Q2 150 0 0 0.0
2024 Q1 32 0 0 0.0
2023 Q4 0 0 0
2023 Q3 0 0 0
2023 Q2 120 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.