Mining Incidents

Elvira Pit: 84 MSHA citations Metal/Non-Metal

H C Contractors, LLC · Surface
North Pole, Fairbanks North Star County, AK  ·  Intermittent
MSHA Mine ID: 5001905

Elvira Pit has $65K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 outstanding across 3 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 2009
84
citations
34
significant & substantial
$64,583
proposed penalties
$61,168
paid to date
95% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $3,415 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2009
19
inspections on record
289
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: 289 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.
Imminent-danger orders
A Section 107(a) order removes miners from an area when an inspector finds an imminent danger. Each order is lifted once the condition is corrected, so this counts orders issued, not orders now in effect.
1
Section 107(a) orders
Most recent order: 2011-07-25.
On record since 2011.
Source: MSHA imminent-danger order records, updated weekly.

Elvira Pit has $65K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 outstanding across 3 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.
$65K
proposed penalties
$61K
current assessed
$61K
paid to date
$0
outstanding
82 assessments are final orders; 3 contested dockets.
Of $21K in penalties contested before the Commission, $18K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2024-06-22.
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.
41.5%
significant & substantial
24.4%
high negligence or reckless
41.5%
reasonably likely or greater
76.8%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 6.1% low, 69.5% moderate, 24.4% 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.
14 citations taken to the federal commission · 17% of citations on record
  • Settled 14 · 100%
89%
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 9 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
16%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$21K proposed, $18K 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 2015-10-29.
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 2013-385M Settlement McCarthy 2013 $8K → $6K
WEST 2012-700M Settlement McCarthy 2013 $8K → $6K
WEST 2016-0087 Settlement Lesnick 2016 $6K → $5K
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: 2019-06-16, 7 years ago
0%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
4
samples
1
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz3
  • Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz1
Show the individual readings (4)
Date Contaminant Concentration Limit Conc / limit Occupation
2019-06-16 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.35 Front-end Loader Operator
2019-06-16 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.44 0.45 0.98 Front-end Loader Operator
2019-06-16 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.15 Front-end Loader Operator
2015-09-14 Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz 0.26 Mechanic
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. H C Contractors, LLC 2009 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2026 0
2025 4
2024 8
2023 1
2022 3
2021 4
2020 4
2019 5
2018 5
2017 4
2016 0
2015 3
2014 3
2013 3
2012 4
2011 5
2010 5
2009 16
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

Elvira Pit sits in Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, where the Census mining category is 2.6% 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.
Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska · Population 95,555
2.6%
Mining share of county employment
$84,722
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 610 0 0 0.0
2025 Q2 5,510 0 0 0.0
2025 Q1 10 0 0 0.0
2024 Q4 10 0 0 0.0
2024 Q3 3,043 0 0 0.0
Show 56 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2024 Q2 1,565 7 2 4472.8
2024 Q1 4 0 0 0.0
2023 Q4 4 0 0 0.0
2023 Q3 1,615 0 0 0.0
2023 Q2 0 1 0
2023 Q1 12 0 0 0.0
2022 Q4 15 0 0 0.0
2022 Q3 4 0 0 0.0
2022 Q2 1,162 0 0 0.0
2022 Q1 20 0 0 0.0
2021 Q4 24 0 0 0.0
2021 Q3 1,744 0 0 0.0
2021 Q2 1,094 0 0 0.0
2021 Q1 7 0 0 0.0
2020 Q4 4 0 0 0.0
2020 Q3 990 0 0 0.0
2020 Q2 1,557 4 0 2569.0
2020 Q1 20 0 0 0.0
2019 Q4 0 0 0
2019 Q3 2,344 0 0 0.0
2019 Q2 4,064 5 1 1230.3
2019 Q1 60 0 0 0.0
2018 Q4 0 0 0
2018 Q3 720 0 0 0.0
2018 Q2 1,676 0 0 0.0
2018 Q1 8 0 0 0.0
2017 Q4 276 4 2 14492.8
2017 Q3 44 0 0 0.0
2017 Q2 0 2 2
2017 Q1 60 0 0 0.0
2016 Q3 0 0 0
2016 Q2 0 0 0
2016 Q1 120 0 0 0.0
2015 Q4 0 0 0
2015 Q3 1,180 16 8 13559.3
2015 Q2 1,733 0 0 0.0
2015 Q1 0 0 0
2014 Q4 0 0 0
2014 Q3 1,289 11 5 8533.7
2014 Q2 147 3 1 20408.2
2014 Q1 0 0 0
2013 Q4 0 0 0
2013 Q3 3,900 0 0 0.0
2013 Q2 728 2 1 2747.3
2013 Q1 2 0 0 0.0
2012 Q4 45 0 0 0.0
2012 Q3 212 3 2 14150.9
2012 Q2 148 0 0 0.0
2012 Q1 1 0 0 0.0
2011 Q4 1,265 0 0 0.0
2011 Q2 1 0 0 0.0
2011 Q1 1 0 0 0.0
2010 Q1 139 0 0 0.0
2009 Q4 728 0 0 0.0
2009 Q3 5,973 5 2 837.1
2009 Q2 6,004 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.