Mining Incidents

Portable Unit #4: 45 MSHA citations Metal/Non-Metal

Farden Construction, Inc. · Surface
Controlled by Steve Farden
Maxbass, Bottineau County, ND  ·  Intermittent
MSHA Mine ID: 3200889

Portable Unit #4 has $7K in proposed MSHA penalties and $453 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 Portable Unit #4.

Fatalities
0
Total incidents
0
Years on record
Latest incident
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2011
45
citations
13
significant & substantial
$7,459
proposed penalties
$7,006
paid to date
94% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $453 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2011
23
inspections on record
265
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: 265 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 Unit #4 has $7K in proposed MSHA penalties and $453 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.
$7K
proposed penalties
$7K
current assessed
$7K
paid to date
$453
outstanding
42 assessments are final orders; 0 contested dockets.
As of the most recent assessment on 2026-06-26.
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.
28.9%
significant & substantial
8.9%
high negligence or reckless
28.9%
reasonably likely or greater
64.4%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 6.7% low, 84.4% moderate, 8.9% 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: 2025-06-10
0%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
5
samples
1
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Respirable dust, <.1mg4
  • Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz1
Show the individual readings (5)
Date Contaminant Concentration Limit Conc / limit Occupation
2025-06-10 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Front-end Loader Operator
2025-06-10 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.15 0.8 0.19 Supervisor, Co. Official
2025-06-10 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Bulldozer Operator
2022-05-04 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Crusher Oper/Worker
2022-05-04 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Bulldozer Operator

Area samples (mill and shop air)

Last sampled: 2016-09-27, 9 years ago
1
samples
Show the individual readings (1)
Date Contaminant Concentration Limit Conc / limit Area sampled
2016-09-27 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 SF ORE PROCESSING
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. Farden Construction, Inc. 2011 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2026 2
2025 2
2024 2
2023 3
2022 2
2021 2
2020 2
2019 3
2018 4
2017 3
2016 2
2015 3
2014 3
2013 3
2012 4
2011 3
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

Portable Unit #4 sits in Bottineau County, North Dakota, where the Census mining category is 4.3% 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.
Bottineau County, North Dakota · Population 6,390
4.3%
Mining share of county employment
$83,460
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 1,481 3 0 2025.7
2026 Q1 0 0 0
2025 Q4 797 0 0 0.0
2025 Q3 1,561 0 0 0.0
2025 Q2 1,345 4 2 2974.0
2025 Q1 0 0 0
2024 Q4 603 0 0 0.0
2024 Q3 958 6 3 6263.0
Show 53 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2024 Q2 658 0 0 0.0
2024 Q1 0 0 0
2023 Q4 658 0 0 0.0
2023 Q3 1,005 2 0 1990.0
2023 Q2 954 0 0 0.0
2023 Q1 138 0 0 0.0
2022 Q4 319 0 0 0.0
2022 Q3 629 0 0 0.0
2022 Q2 378 2 0 5291.0
2022 Q1 0 0 0
2021 Q4 490 0 0 0.0
2021 Q3 771 0 0 0.0
2021 Q2 581 0 0 0.0
2021 Q1 0 0 0
2020 Q4 232 2 0 8620.7
2020 Q3 2,123 0 0 0.0
2020 Q2 1,303 0 0 0.0
2020 Q1 0 0 0
2019 Q4 623 0 0 0.0
2019 Q3 959 2 1 2085.5
2019 Q2 1,671 0 0 0.0
2019 Q1 0 0 0
2018 Q4 621 0 0 0.0
2018 Q3 1,646 0 0 0.0
2018 Q2 2,099 4 0 1905.7
2018 Q1 105 0 0 0.0
2017 Q4 1,733 0 0 0.0
2017 Q3 1,284 0 0 0.0
2017 Q2 2,143 0 0 0.0
2017 Q1 0 0 0
2016 Q4 742 0 0 0.0
2016 Q3 1,734 0 0 0.0
2016 Q2 1,453 3 1 2064.7
2016 Q1 0 0 0
2015 Q4 1,415 0 0 0.0
2015 Q3 1,720 0 0 0.0
2015 Q2 1,253 0 0 0.0
2015 Q1 919 6 4 6528.8
2014 Q4 1,393 0 0 0.0
2014 Q3 1,919 7 2 3647.7
2014 Q2 1,409 0 0 0.0
2014 Q1 110 0 0 0.0
2013 Q4 1,567 0 0 0.0
2013 Q3 1,998 0 0 0.0
2013 Q2 1,627 0 0 0.0
2013 Q1 830 0 0 0.0
2012 Q4 1,816 0 0 0.0
2012 Q3 2,258 0 0 0.0
2012 Q2 1,706 0 0 0.0
2012 Q1 960 3 0 3125.0
2011 Q4 2,481 1 0 403.1
2011 Q3 1,624 0 0 0.0
2011 Q2 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.