Mining Incidents

Emerald Pit: 58 MSHA citations Metal/Non-Metal

Tombstone Gold and Silver, Inc · Surface
Controlled by Baroyeca Gold and Silver
Tombstone, Cochise County, AZ  ·  Active
MSHA Mine ID: 0203336

Emerald Pit has $34K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 outstanding across 2 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 2014
58
citations
15
significant & substantial
$33,731
proposed penalties
$23,744
paid to date
70% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $9,987 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2014
36
inspections on record
350
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: 350 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

Emerald Pit has $34K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 outstanding across 2 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.
$34K
proposed penalties
$24K
current assessed
$24K
paid to date
$0
outstanding
58 assessments are final orders; 2 contested dockets.
Of $26K in penalties contested before the Commission, $16K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2026-01-29.
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.
25.9%
significant & substantial
12.1%
high negligence or reckless
25.9%
reasonably likely or greater
32.8%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 1.7% none, 5.2% low, 81.0% moderate, 12.1% 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.
19 citations taken to the federal commission · 33% of citations on record
  • Settled 19 · 100%
86%
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 7 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
39%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$26K proposed, $16K 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 2017-09-27.
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 2015-0861 Settlement Miller 2016 $22K → $15K
WEST 2017-0709 Settlement Lesnick 2018 $4K → $840
Source: FMSHRC civil penalty dockets and decisions (public record), updated weekly.
Ownership history
  1. Tombstone Gold and Silver, Inc 2014 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2026 3
2025 3
2024 3
2023 3
2022 2
2021 2
2020 2
2019 2
2018 2
2017 2
2016 2
2015 2
2014 2
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

Emerald Pit sits in Cochise County, Arizona, where the Census mining category is 0.7% 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.
Cochise County, Arizona · Population 125,458
0.7%
Mining share of county employment
$58,970
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 1,420 0 0 0.0
2026 Q1 1,400 1 0 714.3
2025 Q4 1,392 0 0 0.0
2025 Q3 1,360 0 0 0.0
2025 Q2 1,400 0 0 0.0
2025 Q1 1,460 1 0 684.9
2024 Q4 610 0 0 0.0
2024 Q3 720 0 0 0.0
Show 40 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2024 Q2 962 0 0 0.0
2024 Q1 944 1 0 1059.3
2023 Q4 1,072 0 0 0.0
2023 Q3 920 1 0 1087.0
2023 Q2 890 0 0 0.0
2023 Q1 900 1 0 1111.1
2022 Q4 884 0 0 0.0
2022 Q3 900 0 0 0.0
2022 Q2 945 0 0 0.0
2022 Q1 952 0 0 0.0
2021 Q3 960 0 0 0.0
2021 Q2 730 0 0 0.0
2021 Q1 940 1 0 1063.8
2020 Q4 720 0 0 0.0
2020 Q3 672 0 0 0.0
2020 Q2 712 1 0 1404.5
2020 Q1 778 5 2 6426.7
2019 Q4 690 0 0 0.0
2019 Q3 690 0 0 0.0
2019 Q2 700 0 0 0.0
2019 Q1 792 3 0 3787.9
2018 Q4 700 0 0 0.0
2018 Q3 720 0 0 0.0
2018 Q2 1,000 0 0 0.0
2018 Q1 862 0 0 0.0
2017 Q4 484 0 0 0.0
2017 Q3 736 2 2 2717.4
2017 Q2 1,020 0 0 0.0
2017 Q1 781 1 0 1280.4
2016 Q4 680 0 0 0.0
2016 Q3 704 1 1 1420.5
2016 Q2 488 0 0 0.0
2016 Q1 456 4 1 8771.9
2015 Q4 490 0 0 0.0
2015 Q3 488 0 0 0.0
2015 Q2 1,008 18 4 17857.1
2015 Q1 976 0 0 0.0
2014 Q4 992 2 0 2016.1
2014 Q3 960 0 0 0.0
2014 Q2 1,536 15 5 9765.6

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.