Mining Incidents

Pioneer Jaw: 106 MSHA citations Metal/Non-Metal

Controlled by Aaran Harold Leustek
Ely, St Louis County, MN  ·  Intermittent
MSHA Mine ID: 2103204

Pioneer Jaw has $11K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 outstanding across 0 contested dockets, plus health sampling and the full incident record.

Watch this mine

Email me when a new MSHA incident is filed at Pioneer Jaw.

Fatalities
0
Total incidents
0
Years on record
Latest incident
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2001
106
citations
21
significant & substantial
$10,607
proposed penalties
$10,607
paid to date
100% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $0 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
55
inspections on record
427
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: 427 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

Pioneer Jaw has $11K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 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.
$11K
proposed penalties
$11K
current assessed
$11K
paid to date
$0
outstanding
102 assessments are final orders; 0 contested dockets.
As of the most recent assessment on 2024-11-05.
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.
19.8%
significant & substantial
1.9%
high negligence or reckless
19.8%
reasonably likely or greater
52.8%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 19.8% low, 78.3% moderate, 1.9% high, 0.0% reckless.
Source: MSHA violations gravity and negligence coding, 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: 2025-09-24
13%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
10
samples
8
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz81 over
  • Respirable dust, <.1mg2
Show the individual readings (10)
Date Contaminant Concentration Limit Conc / limit Occupation
2019-07-23 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.58 0.53 1.09 Crusher Oper/Worker
2025-09-24 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Crusher Oper/Worker
2025-09-24 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Front-end Loader Operator
2019-07-23 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.31 0.41 0.76 Crusher Oper/Worker
2016-05-25 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.13 0.74 0.18 Front-end Loader Operator
2011-06-30 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.27 0.62 0.44 Front-end Loader Operator
2004-05-26 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.17 0.43 0.40 Front-end Loader Operator
2004-05-26 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.72 0.88 0.82 Crusher Oper/Worker
2002-11-26 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.21 0.27 0.78 Crusher Oper/Worker
2002-11-26 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.33 0.43 0.77 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. Louis Leustek & Sons Inc 1999 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2026 3
2025 3
2024 3
2023 3
2022 4
2021 4
2020 3
2019 3
2018 3
2017 2
2016 3
2015 3
2014 4
2013 4
2012 2
2011 3
2010 1
2009 5
2008 1
2007 8
2006 0
2005 1
2004 8
2003 7
2002 2
2001 18
2000 0
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

Pioneer Jaw sits in St. Louis County, Minnesota, where the Census mining category is 2.3% 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.
St. Louis County, Minnesota · Population 200,056
2.3%
Mining share of county employment
$69,455
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 1,318 0 0 0.0
2026 Q1 1 0 0 0.0
2025 Q4 1,013 0 0 0.0
2025 Q1 21 0 0 0.0
2024 Q4 979 6 1 6128.7
2024 Q3 224 1 0 4464.3
2024 Q2 909 0 0 0.0
2024 Q1 1 0 0 0.0
Show 89 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2023 Q4 1,122 0 0 0.0
2023 Q3 1,635 0 0 0.0
2023 Q2 522 0 0 0.0
2023 Q1 1 0 0 0.0
2022 Q4 964 0 0 0.0
2022 Q3 139 4 0 28777.0
2022 Q2 744 0 0 0.0
2022 Q1 1 0 0 0.0
2021 Q4 975 0 0 0.0
2021 Q3 2,721 3 1 1102.5
2021 Q2 1,567 0 0 0.0
2021 Q1 1 0 0 0.0
2020 Q4 883 0 0 0.0
2020 Q3 1,400 0 0 0.0
2020 Q2 1,144 3 1 2622.4
2020 Q1 1 0 0 0.0
2019 Q4 221 0 0 0.0
2019 Q3 1,748 4 0 2288.3
2019 Q2 1,145 0 0 0.0
2019 Q1 1 0 0 0.0
2018 Q4 974 0 0 0.0
2018 Q3 2,500 2 0 800.0
2018 Q2 2,420 0 0 0.0
2018 Q1 1 0 0 0.0
2017 Q4 1 0 0 0.0
2017 Q3 650 0 0 0.0
2017 Q2 1,063 4 0 3762.9
2017 Q1 1 0 0 0.0
2016 Q4 1 0 0 0.0
2016 Q3 665 0 0 0.0
2016 Q2 268 1 0 3731.3
2016 Q1 70 0 0 0.0
2015 Q4 1,225 0 0 0.0
2015 Q3 1,259 3 0 2382.8
2015 Q2 506 0 0 0.0
2015 Q1 1 0 0 0.0
2014 Q4 891 3 2 3367.0
2014 Q3 2,300 2 1 869.6
2014 Q2 930 0 0 0.0
2014 Q1 1 0 0 0.0
2013 Q4 451 1 0 2217.3
2013 Q3 591 4 2 6768.2
2013 Q2 981 0 0 0.0
2013 Q1 449 0 0 0.0
2012 Q4 557 0 0 0.0
2012 Q3 1,370 2 0 1459.9
2012 Q2 835 0 0 0.0
2012 Q1 1 0 0 0.0
2011 Q4 740 0 0 0.0
2011 Q3 1,424 2 0 1404.5
2011 Q2 200 6 2 30000.0
2010 Q3 1 0 0 0.0
2010 Q2 1 0 0 0.0
2010 Q1 0 0 0
2009 Q4 324 0 0 0.0
2009 Q3 2,330 1 0 429.2
2009 Q2 1,303 0 0 0.0
2009 Q1 40 0 0 0.0
2008 Q4 0 6 2
2008 Q3 0 0 0
2008 Q2 233 0 0 0.0
2008 Q1 0 0 0
2007 Q4 144 3 0 20833.3
2007 Q3 2,576 0 0 0.0
2007 Q2 121 0 0 0.0
2007 Q1 0 0 0
2006 Q4 0 1 0
2006 Q3 0 0 0
2006 Q2 0 0 0
2006 Q1 0 0 0
2005 Q4 354 5 1 14124.3
2005 Q3 0 0 0
2005 Q2 0 0 0
2005 Q1 0 0 0
2004 Q4 619 2 0 3231.0
2004 Q3 1,050 0 0 0.0
2004 Q2 1,072 1 0 932.8
2004 Q1 0 0 0
2003 Q4 1,054 0 0 0.0
2003 Q3 2,400 4 1 1666.7
2003 Q2 251 0 0 0.0
2003 Q1 0 0 0
2002 Q4 925 7 2 7567.6
2002 Q3 1,002 6 0 5988.0
2002 Q2 769 0 0 0.0
2002 Q1 0 0 0
2001 Q4 2,277 12 3 5270.1
2001 Q3 5,492 3 1 546.2
2000 Q1 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.