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Portable #1: 91 MSHA citations Metal/Non-Metal

Controlled by D Michael Frost
Lovell, Big Horn County, WY  ·  Temporarily Idled
MSHA Mine ID: 4801636

Portable #1 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
2
Years on record
2020–2022
Latest incident
Apr 2022
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2003
91
citations
29
significant & substantial
$34,186
proposed penalties
$34,091
paid to date
100% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $95 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
See Mountain Construction Company's full MSHA compliance history →
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2003
39
inspections on record
560
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: 560 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

Portable #1 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
$34K
current assessed
$34K
paid to date
$0
outstanding
91 assessments are final orders; 2 contested dockets.
Of $473 in penalties contested before the Commission, $378 was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2026-01-06.
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
12.1%
high negligence or reckless
31.9%
reasonably likely or greater
50.5%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 5.5% low, 82.4% moderate, 12.1% high, 0.0% reckless.
Source: MSHA violations gravity and negligence coding, updated weekly.
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 2004-347M Settlement Lesnick 2004 $349 → $279
WEST 2004-290-M Settlement Lesnick 2004 $124 → $99
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: 2024-03-12
0%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
17
samples
5
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz9
  • Respirable dust, <.1mg8
Show the individual readings (17)
Date Contaminant Concentration Limit Conc / limit Occupation
2024-03-12 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Front-end Loader Operator
2024-03-12 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.85 1.33 0.64 Laborer, Bullgang
2024-03-12 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.37 Truck Driver
2024-03-12 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 1.19 1.27 0.94 Crusher Oper/Worker
2024-03-12 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Front-end Loader Operator
2023-08-15 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.14 Front-end Loader Operator
2023-08-15 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Crusher Oper/Worker
2023-08-15 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Crusher Oper/Worker
2021-11-04 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.22 Front-end Loader Operator
2021-11-04 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.49 Front-end Loader Operator
2020-01-28 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.21 0.74 0.28 Cleanup Man
2020-01-28 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Crusher Oper/Worker
2020-01-28 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Front-end Loader Operator
2014-07-23 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Laborer, Bullgang
2009-08-04 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Bulldozer Operator
2009-08-04 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.43 1.34 0.32 Front-end Loader Operator
2009-08-04 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 1.28 1.39 0.92 Laborer, Bullgang
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.

Portable #1 recorded 7.85 reportable injury cases per 100 full-time workers in 2020.

Injury rate, 2020
ⓘ This rate is reportable injury cases per 100 full-time-equivalent workers per year, computed as 200,000 times cases divided by MSHA operator-reported employee-hours. Cases are injuries MSHA graded degree 01 through 07; accident-only events that hurt no one are excluded, and so are contractor injuries, whose hours do not attach to a single mine. Rates begin in 2000, when quarterly employment reporting starts, and are withheld below 20,000 hours in a year.
7.85
total case rate
7.85
days-away rate
0.000
fatality rate
Above average. The US metal and nonmetal mining average was 1.77 and the all-US-mining average was 2.08 cases per 100 workers.
In Wyoming, metal and nonmetal mining averaged 1.84 cases per 100 workers that year.
Under 100,000 employee-hours were reported that year, so a single case moves the rate by two or more. Read the figure as approximate.
Source: injury cases from MSHA accident and injury records; employee-hours from MSHA quarterly employment reports. Rate is cases per 100 full-time-equivalent workers, operator employees only.
Ownership history
  1. Mountain Construction Company 2003 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2026 14
2025 15
2024 16
2023 16
2022 16
2021 15
2020 17
2019 7
2018 5
2017 1
2016 5
2015 5
2014 4
2013 6
2012 5
2011 5
2010 7
2009 8
2008 4
2007 8
2005 0
2004 3
2003 3
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

Portable #1 sits in Big Horn County, Wyoming, where the Census mining category is 6.4% 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.
Big Horn County, Wyoming · Population 11,737
6.4%
Mining share of county employment
$60,547
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 1,578 0 0 0.0
2026 Q1 4,303 3 1 697.2
2025 Q4 2,858 0 0 0.0
2025 Q3 1,434 4 0 2789.4
2025 Q2 1,745 0 0 0.0
2025 Q1 3,427 2 0 583.6
2024 Q4 4,118 0 0 0.0
2024 Q3 2,936 0 0 0.0
Show 77 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2024 Q2 3,138 0 0 0.0
2024 Q1 4,420 2 0 452.5
2023 Q4 3,454 0 0 0.0
2023 Q3 1,344 1 0 744.0
2023 Q2 3,300 0 0 0.0
2023 Q1 4,378 2 1 456.8
2022 Q4 1,500 0 0 0.0
2022 Q3 2,027 7 5 3453.4
2022 Q2 4,180 0 0 0.0
2022 Q1 3,643 0 0 0.0
2021 Q4 2,166 9 3 4155.1
2021 Q3 2,933 7 0 2386.6
2021 Q2 4,858 1 0 205.8
2021 Q1 4,695 2 0 426.0
2020 Q4 4,048 0 0 0.0
2020 Q3 5,135 0 0 0.0
2020 Q2 9,442 0 0 0.0
2020 Q1 6,855 21 9 3063.5
2019 Q4 2,311 0 0 0.0
2019 Q3 2,711 0 0 0.0
2019 Q2 2,962 0 0 0.0
2019 Q1 1,182 0 0 0.0
2018 Q4 828 0 0 0.0
2018 Q3 1,530 0 0 0.0
2018 Q2 1,806 0 0 0.0
2018 Q1 1,308 0 0 0.0
2017 Q4 365 0 0 0.0
2017 Q3 0 0 0
2017 Q2 0 0 0
2017 Q1 0 0 0
2016 Q4 1,758 0 0 0.0
2016 Q3 815 0 0 0.0
2016 Q2 1,864 0 0 0.0
2016 Q1 1,256 0 0 0.0
2015 Q4 927 0 0 0.0
2015 Q2 2,703 0 0 0.0
2015 Q1 1,052 1 0 950.6
2014 Q4 640 0 0 0.0
2014 Q3 1,322 3 0 2269.3
2014 Q2 616 0 0 0.0
2014 Q1 1,244 0 0 0.0
2013 Q4 1,547 0 0 0.0
2013 Q3 1,145 0 0 0.0
2013 Q2 591 0 0 0.0
2013 Q1 1,606 0 0 0.0
2012 Q4 1,851 0 0 0.0
2012 Q3 0 0 0
2012 Q2 1,621 0 0 0.0
2012 Q1 1,595 0 0 0.0
2011 Q4 1,737 4 1 2302.8
2011 Q3 635 0 0 0.0
2011 Q2 1,362 0 0 0.0
2011 Q1 496 1 1 2016.1
2010 Q4 495 0 0 0.0
2010 Q3 1,390 0 0 0.0
2010 Q2 2,688 0 0 0.0
2010 Q1 2,847 0 0 0.0
2009 Q4 1,784 5 0 2802.7
2009 Q3 1,913 0 0 0.0
2009 Q2 941 0 0 0.0
2009 Q1 881 0 0 0.0
2008 Q4 0 0 0
2008 Q3 831 4 1 4813.5
2008 Q2 0 0 0
2008 Q1 1,422 0 0 0.0
2007 Q4 2,527 0 0 0.0
2007 Q3 3,922 1 0 255.0
2007 Q2 2,092 0 0 0.0
2005 Q3 1 0 0 0.0
2005 Q2 0 0 0
2005 Q1 0 0 0
2004 Q4 0 0 0
2004 Q3 0 0 0
2004 Q2 0 0 0
2004 Q1 2,223 4 4 1799.4
2003 Q4 0 1 0
2003 Q3 3,347 4 2 1195.1
No fatalities recorded at this mine.

Reportable incidents

2 on file

2022 · 1 incident

April 7, 2022 WY · Metal/Non-Metal laborer, blacksmith, bull gang, parts runner, roustabout, pick-up man, pitman HANDLING OF MATERIALS
Mountain Construction Company · Caught in, under or between a moving and a stationary object

Employee smashed finger in between balance weights and a bench.

2020 · 1 incident

January 22, 2020 WY · Metal/Non-Metal bulldozer operator, universal operator, heavy equipment operator, operating engineer SLIP OR FALL OF PERSON
Mountain Construction Company · Fall to the walkway or working surface

Got out of the car, walking over to equipment, there was a thin layer of snow covering a patch of ice EE didn't see the ice and slipped on it and landed with all of EE's weight on EE's knee.