Mining Incidents

Portable Crushing: 130 MSHA citations Metal/Non-Metal

Mesabi Bituminous, Inc. · Surface
Controlled by Thomas Nemanich
Gilbert, St Louis County, MN  ·  Intermittent
MSHA Mine ID: 2103048

Portable Crushing has $21K 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
0
Years on record
Latest incident
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2001
130
citations
40
significant & substantial
$21,202
proposed penalties
$21,202
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
42
inspections on record
419
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: 419 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 Crushing has $21K 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.
$21K
proposed penalties
$21K
current assessed
$21K
paid to date
$0
outstanding
124 assessments are final orders; 2 contested dockets.
Of $5K in penalties contested before the Commission, $5K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2025-10-03.
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.
32.3%
significant & substantial
0.8%
high negligence or reckless
32.3%
reasonably likely or greater
55.6%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 17.7% low, 81.5% moderate, 0.8% 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.
7 citations taken to the federal commission · 5% of citations on record
  • Stood as issued 7 · 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 3 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
0%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$5K proposed, $5K 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 2017-01-15.
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
LAKE 2017-0125 Default Lesnick 2017 $2K → $2K
LAKE 2011-196M Default Lesnick 2011 $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: 2025-10-03
0%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
10
samples
3
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Respirable dust, <.1mg6
  • Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz3
  • Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz1
Show the individual readings (10)
Date Contaminant Concentration Limit Conc / limit Occupation
2025-10-03 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.13 0.87 0.15 Crusher Oper/Worker
2025-10-03 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Front-end Loader Operator
2025-08-26 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.18 1.05 0.17 Crusher Oper/Worker
2025-08-26 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Front-end Loader Operator
2024-09-19 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Front-end Loader Operator
2024-09-19 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Crusher Oper/Worker
2021-09-29 Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz 0.18 Front-end Loader Operator
2021-09-29 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.39 0.66 0.59 Crusher Oper/Worker
2013-11-04 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Crusher Oper/Worker
2013-11-04 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. Mesabi Bituminous, Inc. 1992 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2026 2
2025 2
2024 3
2023 3
2022 3
2021 3
2020 3
2019 3
2018 3
2017 2
2016 3
2015 3
2014 3
2013 3
2012 4
2011 4
2010 3
2009 4
2008 2
2007 2
2006 2
2005 2
2004 2
2003 1
2002 1
2001 1
2000 2
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

Portable Crushing 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 805 0 0 0.0
2026 Q1 1 0 0 0.0
2025 Q3 2,222 1 0 450.0
2025 Q2 719 0 0 0.0
2025 Q1 1 0 0 0.0
2024 Q4 911 0 0 0.0
2024 Q3 1,216 2 0 1644.7
2024 Q2 603 0 0 0.0
Show 95 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2024 Q1 1 0 0 0.0
2023 Q4 785 0 0 0.0
2023 Q3 1,188 1 1 841.8
2023 Q2 330 0 0 0.0
2023 Q1 1 0 0 0.0
2022 Q4 956 0 0 0.0
2022 Q3 1,366 3 0 2196.2
2022 Q2 597 0 0 0.0
2022 Q1 1 0 0 0.0
2021 Q4 1,114 0 0 0.0
2021 Q3 1,434 5 1 3486.8
2021 Q2 638 0 0 0.0
2021 Q1 241 0 0 0.0
2020 Q4 856 0 0 0.0
2020 Q3 1,176 0 0 0.0
2020 Q2 445 0 0 0.0
2020 Q1 1 0 0 0.0
2019 Q4 788 3 0 3807.1
2019 Q3 1,455 0 0 0.0
2019 Q2 613 0 0 0.0
2019 Q1 1 0 0 0.0
2018 Q4 496 6 3 12096.8
2018 Q3 998 6 2 6012.0
2018 Q2 790 0 0 0.0
2018 Q1 1 0 0 0.0
2017 Q4 662 0 0 0.0
2017 Q3 986 0 0 0.0
2017 Q2 858 0 0 0.0
2017 Q1 0 0 0
2016 Q4 797 8 3 10037.6
2016 Q3 1,025 7 2 6829.3
2016 Q2 840 0 0 0.0
2016 Q1 1 0 0 0.0
2015 Q4 797 0 0 0.0
2015 Q3 1,151 0 0 0.0
2015 Q2 383 4 2 10443.9
2015 Q1 1 0 0 0.0
2014 Q4 599 0 0 0.0
2014 Q3 969 0 0 0.0
2014 Q2 655 0 0 0.0
2014 Q1 1 0 0 0.0
2013 Q4 317 6 0 18927.4
2013 Q3 1,052 4 3 3802.3
2013 Q2 250 0 0 0.0
2013 Q1 1 0 0 0.0
2012 Q4 611 0 0 0.0
2012 Q3 1,200 6 0 5000.0
2012 Q2 461 0 0 0.0
2012 Q1 0 0 0
2011 Q4 2,170 0 0 0.0
2011 Q3 2,495 0 0 0.0
2011 Q2 1,687 0 0 0.0
2011 Q1 0 0 0
2010 Q4 0 8 2
2010 Q3 260 0 0 0.0
2010 Q2 800 0 0 0.0
2010 Q1 1,586 0 0 0.0
2009 Q4 2,522 6 4 2379.1
2009 Q3 2,800 7 2 2500.0
2009 Q2 720 0 0 0.0
2009 Q1 60 0 0 0.0
2008 Q4 580 0 0 0.0
2008 Q2 410 0 0 0.0
2008 Q1 0 0 0
2007 Q4 248 10 4 40322.6
2007 Q3 610 0 0 0.0
2007 Q2 252 0 0 0.0
2007 Q1 0 0 0
2006 Q4 0 2 0
2006 Q3 527 4 0 7590.1
2006 Q2 208 0 0 0.0
2006 Q1 0 0 0
2005 Q4 147 0 0 0.0
2005 Q3 364 2 0 5494.5
2005 Q2 460 0 0 0.0
2005 Q1 0 0 0
2004 Q4 161 1 0 6211.2
2004 Q3 247 5 2 20242.9
2004 Q2 312 0 0 0.0
2004 Q1 0 0 0
2003 Q4 196 0 0 0.0
2003 Q2 310 0 0 0.0
2003 Q1 0 0 0
2002 Q4 0 0 0
2002 Q3 611 0 0 0.0
2002 Q2 342 0 0 0.0
2002 Q1 0 0 0
2001 Q4 90 2 0 22222.2
2001 Q3 1,183 19 9 16060.9
2001 Q2 0 0 0
2001 Q1 10 0 0 0.0
2000 Q4 10 0 0 0.0
2000 Q3 2,051 0 0 0.0
2000 Q2 10 0 0 0.0
2000 Q1 10 0 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.