Mining Incidents

Gold Rule Placer Mine: 53 MSHA citations Metal/Non-Metal

Golden Rule Placer Mining Inc. · Surface
Controlled by George Frank
Drummond, Powell County, MT  ·  Abandoned
MSHA Mine ID: 2402582

Gold Rule Placer Mine has $11K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 outstanding across 1 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 2011
53
citations
8
significant & substantial
$10,515
proposed penalties
$10,094
paid to date
96% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $421 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2011
13
inspections on record
274
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: 274 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

Gold Rule Placer Mine has $11K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 outstanding across 1 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.
$11K
proposed penalties
$10K
current assessed
$10K
paid to date
$0
outstanding
53 assessments are final orders; 1 contested dockets.
Of $2K in penalties contested before the Commission, $2K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2015-08-05.
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.
15.1%
significant & substantial
5.7%
high negligence or reckless
15.1%
reasonably likely or greater
34.0%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 3.8% low, 90.6% moderate, 5.7% 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.
1 citations taken to the federal commission · 2% of citations on record
  • Settled 1 · 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 1 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
20%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$2K proposed, $2K 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 2013-08-06.
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 2013-1036M Settlement Lesnick 2014 $2K → $2K
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: 2013-06-04, 13 years ago
3
samples
0
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz2
  • Respirable dust, <.1mg1
Show the individual readings (3)
Date Contaminant Concentration Limit Conc / limit Occupation
2013-06-04 Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz 0.38 Backhoe Operator
2013-06-04 Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz 0.15 Bulldozer Operator
2013-06-04 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Supervisor, Co. Official
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. Golden Rule Placer Mining Inc. 2011 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2017 0
2016 1
2015 2
2014 2
2013 8
2012 6
2011 6
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

Gold Rule Placer Mine sits in Powell County, Montana, where the Census mining category is 0.4% 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.
Powell County, Montana · Population 7,029
0.4%
Mining share of county employment
$63,432
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
2017 Q3 0 0 0
2017 Q2 0 0 0
2017 Q1 0 0 0
2016 Q4 77 0 0 0.0
2016 Q3 265 0 0 0.0
2016 Q2 0 0 0
2016 Q1 0 0 0
2015 Q4 118 0 0 0.0
Show 18 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2015 Q3 1,259 2 0 1588.6
2015 Q2 1,132 0 0 0.0
2015 Q1 0 0 0
2014 Q4 720 0 0 0.0
2014 Q3 960 0 0 0.0
2014 Q2 1,278 0 0 0.0
2014 Q1 591 0 0 0.0
2013 Q4 1,647 0 0 0.0
2013 Q3 6,043 0 0 0.0
2013 Q2 6,645 10 3 1504.9
2013 Q1 2,013 6 0 2980.6
2012 Q4 3,595 0 0 0.0
2012 Q3 3,121 0 0 0.0
2012 Q2 3,213 6 0 1867.4
2012 Q1 2,095 0 0 0.0
2011 Q4 3,058 0 0 0.0
2011 Q3 2,845 0 0 0.0
2011 Q2 1,853 28 4 15110.6

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.