Mining Incidents

RUSTIC PIT: 29 MSHA citations Metal/Non-Metal

VHCC, LLC · Surface
FT. WINGATE, Mckinley County, NM  ·  Intermittent
MSHA Mine ID: 2902570

RUSTIC PIT has $22K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 outstanding across 0 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 2025
29
citations
6
significant & substantial
$21,546
proposed penalties
$21,546
paid to date
100% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $0 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2025
4
inspections on record
66
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: 66 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

RUSTIC PIT has $22K 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.
$22K
proposed penalties
$22K
current assessed
$22K
paid to date
$0
outstanding
12 assessments are final orders; 0 contested dockets.
As of the most recent assessment on 2026-06-10.
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.
20.7%
significant & substantial
41.4%
high negligence or reckless
20.7%
reasonably likely or greater
55.2%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 3.4% low, 55.2% moderate, 41.4% 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: 2026-06-10
0%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
2
samples
1
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz1
  • Respirable dust, <.1mg1
Show the individual readings (2)
Date Contaminant Concentration Limit Conc / limit Occupation
2026-06-10 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.36 1.1 0.33 Rotary Bucket Ex. Operator
2026-06-10 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Utility Man
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. VHCC, LLC 2025 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2026 5
2025 5
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

RUSTIC PIT sits in McKinley County, New Mexico, where the Census mining category is 0.7% 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.
McKinley County, New Mexico · Population 71,172
0.7%
Mining share of county employment
$44,496
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 1,224 17 4 13888.9
2026 Q1 486 0 0 0.0
2025 Q4 890 0 0 0.0
2025 Q3 1,194 0 0 0.0
2025 Q2 118 12 2 101694.9

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.