Mining Incidents

Kirtland Pit: 95 MSHA citations Metal/Non-Metal

Sterling Brothers Construction Inc · Surface
Controlled by Bruce Sterling
San Juan, San Juan County, NM  ·  Abandoned
MSHA Mine ID: 2902140

Kirtland Pit has $18K in proposed MSHA penalties and $1K 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 2000
95
citations
30
significant & substantial
$18,107
proposed penalties
$17,025
paid to date
94% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $1,082 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
38
inspections on record
467
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: 467 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

Kirtland Pit has $18K in proposed MSHA penalties and $1K 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.
$18K
proposed penalties
$18K
current assessed
$17K
paid to date
$1K
outstanding
94 assessments are final orders; 1 contested dockets.
Of $291 in penalties contested before the Commission, $291 was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2015-01-28.
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.
31.9%
significant & substantial
1.1%
high negligence or reckless
31.9%
reasonably likely or greater
61.7%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 21.3% low, 77.7% moderate, 1.1% 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.
2 citations taken to the federal commission · 2% of citations on record
  • Stood as issued 2 · 100%
0%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$291 proposed, $291 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 2006-06-05.
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
CENT 2006-166M Dismissal Lesnick 2006 $291 → $291
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: 2009-05-21, 17 years ago
0%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
6
samples
2
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Respirable dust, <.1mg4
  • Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz2
Show the individual readings (6)
Date Contaminant Concentration Limit Conc / limit Occupation
2009-05-21 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Front-end Loader Operator
2009-05-21 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.12 0.26 0.46 Crusher Oper/Worker
2007-06-12 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Crusher Oper/Worker
2007-06-12 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.47 0.72 0.65 Front-end Loader Operator
2003-05-06 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Supervisor, Co. Official
2003-05-06 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 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. Sterling Brothers Construction Inc 1994 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2015 5
2014 6
2013 6
2012 6
2011 6
2010 5
2009 4
2008 4
2007 4
2006 2
2005 3
2004 1
2003 2
2002 4
2001 4
2000 4
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

Kirtland Pit sits in San Juan County, New Mexico, where the Census mining category is 7.5% 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.
San Juan County, New Mexico · Population 121,178
7.5%
Mining share of county employment
$53,020
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
2015 Q3 301 0 0 0.0
2015 Q2 1,091 0 0 0.0
2015 Q1 1,165 3 0 2575.1
2014 Q4 1,088 0 0 0.0
2014 Q3 1,116 0 0 0.0
2014 Q2 835 0 0 0.0
2014 Q1 1,031 0 0 0.0
2013 Q4 848 7 4 8254.7
Show 55 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2013 Q3 489 0 0 0.0
2013 Q2 207 0 0 0.0
2013 Q1 665 0 0 0.0
2012 Q4 696 2 1 2873.6
2012 Q3 813 0 0 0.0
2012 Q2 1,354 7 2 5169.9
2012 Q1 1,146 0 0 0.0
2011 Q4 1,346 4 0 2971.8
2011 Q3 1,328 0 0 0.0
2011 Q2 1,364 3 1 2199.4
2011 Q1 1,204 0 0 0.0
2010 Q4 1,382 0 0 0.0
2010 Q3 787 0 0 0.0
2010 Q2 626 2 0 3194.9
2010 Q1 252 0 0 0.0
2009 Q4 1,119 0 0 0.0
2009 Q3 1,290 0 0 0.0
2009 Q2 1,360 8 1 5882.4
2009 Q1 281 0 0 0.0
2008 Q4 417 0 0 0.0
2008 Q3 1,674 0 0 0.0
2008 Q2 249 4 2 16064.3
2008 Q1 293 0 0 0.0
2007 Q4 887 5 3 5637.0
2007 Q3 1,480 0 0 0.0
2007 Q2 1,322 4 0 3025.7
2007 Q1 100 5 2 50000.0
2006 Q4 0 0 0
2006 Q3 760 0 0 0.0
2006 Q2 635 0 0 0.0
2006 Q1 557 2 0 3590.7
2005 Q4 479 0 0 0.0
2005 Q3 698 0 0 0.0
2005 Q2 1,070 3 1 2803.7
2005 Q1 1,038 0 0 0.0
2004 Q4 1,319 0 0 0.0
2004 Q3 0 0 0
2004 Q2 0 5 3
2004 Q1 0 3 3
2003 Q4 114 0 0 0.0
2003 Q3 0 0 0
2003 Q2 976 10 2 10245.9
2003 Q1 1,363 0 0 0.0
2002 Q4 60 0 0 0.0
2002 Q3 629 0 0 0.0
2002 Q2 1,234 0 0 0.0
2002 Q1 1,432 0 0 0.0
2001 Q4 1,545 0 0 0.0
2001 Q3 880 0 0 0.0
2001 Q2 1,111 0 0 0.0
2001 Q1 646 0 0 0.0
2000 Q4 1,426 4 0 2805.0
2000 Q3 1,922 1 1 520.3
2000 Q2 1,148 5 0 4355.4
2000 Q1 1,339 8 4 5974.6

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.