Mining Incidents

Pop-Corn: 12 MSHA citations Metal/Non-Metal

Controlled by USS Holdings Inc
Fallon, Churchill County, NV  ·  Intermittent
MSHA Mine ID: 2602236

Pop-Corn has $2K 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
1
Years on record
2009
Latest incident
Oct 2009
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2009
12
citations
2
significant & substantial
$2,191
proposed penalties
$1,626
paid to date
74% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $565 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2009
17
inspections on record
179
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: 179 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

Pop-Corn has $2K 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.
$2K
proposed penalties
$2K
current assessed
$2K
paid to date
$0
outstanding
12 assessments are final orders; 1 contested dockets.
Of $765 in penalties contested before the Commission, $200 was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2019-05-09.
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.
16.7%
significant & substantial
8.3%
high negligence or reckless
16.7%
reasonably likely or greater
33.3%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 8.3% low, 83.3% moderate, 8.3% 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 · 17% of citations on record
  • Settled 2 · 100%
0%
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 2 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
74%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$765 proposed, $200 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 2009-12-01.
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 2010-296M Settlement Lesnick 2010 $765 → $200
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: 2018-10-11, 7 years ago
6
samples
0
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Respirable dust, <.1mg5
  • Cristobalite, respirable1
Show the individual readings (6)
Date Contaminant Concentration Limit Conc / limit Occupation
2018-10-11 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Bulldozer Operator
2018-10-11 Cristobalite, respirable 0 Bulldozer Operator
2018-09-04 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Bulldozer Operator
2015-01-28 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Bulldozer Operator
2015-01-28 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Backhoe Operator
2015-01-28 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Truck Driver
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. Eagle Picher Filtration & Minerals Inc 1993 to 2006
  2. EP Minerals LLC 2006 to 2019
  3. U.S. Silica Company, LLC 2019 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2026 2
2025 2
2024 3
2023 2
2022 2
2021 1
2020 3
2019 0
2018 1
2017 1
2016 0
2015 2
2014 3
2013 0
2012 0
2011 0
2010 0
2009 1
2001 0
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

Pop-Corn sits in Churchill County, Nevada, where the Census mining category is 1.0% 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.
Churchill County, Nevada · Population 25,614
1.0%
Mining share of county employment
$73,268
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 80 0 0 0.0
2026 Q1 53 0 0 0.0
2025 Q4 54 0 0 0.0
2025 Q3 61 0 0 0.0
2025 Q2 64 0 0 0.0
2025 Q1 67 0 0 0.0
2024 Q4 249 0 0 0.0
2024 Q3 76 0 0 0.0
Show 60 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2024 Q2 38 0 0 0.0
2024 Q1 411 0 0 0.0
2023 Q4 61 0 0 0.0
2023 Q3 36 0 0 0.0
2023 Q2 83 0 0 0.0
2023 Q1 67 0 0 0.0
2022 Q4 73 0 0 0.0
2022 Q3 68 0 0 0.0
2022 Q2 67 0 0 0.0
2022 Q1 155 0 0 0.0
2021 Q4 60 0 0 0.0
2021 Q3 80 0 0 0.0
2021 Q2 79 0 0 0.0
2021 Q1 50 0 0 0.0
2020 Q4 53 0 0 0.0
2020 Q3 64 0 0 0.0
2020 Q2 57 0 0 0.0
2020 Q1 54 0 0 0.0
2019 Q4 0 0 0
2019 Q3 0 0 0
2019 Q2 0 1 0
2019 Q1 0 0 0
2018 Q4 0 0 0
2018 Q3 40 0 0 0.0
2018 Q2 0 0 0
2018 Q1 90 0 0 0.0
2017 Q4 0 0 0
2017 Q3 0 0 0
2017 Q2 0 0 0
2017 Q1 90 0 0 0.0
2016 Q4 0 0 0
2016 Q3 0 0 0
2016 Q2 0 0 0
2016 Q1 0 0 0
2015 Q4 0 0 0
2015 Q3 140 0 0 0.0
2015 Q2 0 0 0
2015 Q1 774 6 1 7751.9
2014 Q4 400 0 0 0.0
2014 Q1 82 0 0 0.0
2013 Q4 0 0 0
2013 Q3 0 0 0
2013 Q2 0 0 0
2013 Q1 0 0 0
2012 Q4 0 0 0
2012 Q3 0 0 0
2012 Q2 0 0 0
2012 Q1 0 0 0
2011 Q4 0 0 0
2011 Q3 0 0 0
2011 Q2 0 0 0
2011 Q1 0 0 0
2010 Q4 0 0 0
2010 Q3 0 0 0
2010 Q2 80 0 0 0.0
2010 Q1 0 0 0
2009 Q4 40 4 0 100000.0
2009 Q3 13 0 0 0.0
2001 Q3 0 0 0
2001 Q2 0 0 0
No fatalities recorded at this mine.

Reportable incidents

1 on file

2009 · 1 incident

October 5, 2009 NV · Metal/Non-Metal haul/off road/coal/ore/pit/quarry/rock/rubber tire truck driver, transportation truck driver POWERED HAULAGE
EP Minerals LLC · Struck against a moving object

employee used poor body mechanics/position while leaning forward to grab handle and set the parking brake on the Michigan 175 loader. leaning, twisting, pulling caused lower back sprain, he was given MODIFIED Duty restrictions