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Soper Pit: 78 MSHA citations Metal/Non-Metal

Spanish Creek Sand & Gravel LLC · Surface
Quincy, Plumas County, CA  ·  Intermittent
MSHA Mine ID: 0404788

Soper Pit has $13K 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
1
Years on record
2012
Latest incident
Sep 2012
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2000
78
citations
29
significant & substantial
$13,470
proposed penalties
$12,555
paid to date
93% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $915 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
41
inspections on record
607
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: 607 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

Soper Pit has $13K 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.
$13K
proposed penalties
$13K
current assessed
$13K
paid to date
$0
outstanding
76 assessments are final orders; 2 contested dockets.
Of $4K in penalties contested before the Commission, $3K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2022-12-13.
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.
37.7%
significant & substantial
2.6%
high negligence or reckless
36.4%
reasonably likely or greater
53.2%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 11.7% low, 85.7% moderate, 2.6% 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.
11 citations taken to the federal commission · 14% of citations on record
  • Settled 5 · 45%
  • Stood as issued 6 · 55%
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 6 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
21%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$4K proposed, $3K 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 2006-10-23.
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 2007-55M Settlement Manning 2007 $4K → $3K
WEST 2006-174M Dismissal Lesnick 2006 $609 → $609
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: 2025-11-05
14%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
11
samples
7
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz71 over
  • Respirable dust, <.1mg4
Show the individual readings (11)
Date Contaminant Concentration Limit Conc / limit Occupation
2005-08-25 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.61 0.45 1.36 Crusher Oper/Worker
2025-11-05 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Front-end Loader Operator
2017-08-22 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.14 0.42 0.33 Front-end Loader Operator
2017-08-22 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.19 0.5 0.38 Mechanic
2017-08-22 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Washer Operator
2012-06-20 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.18 0.54 0.33 Crusher Oper/Worker
2012-06-20 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.2 0.7 0.29 Front-end Loader Operator
2006-07-11 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.43 0.6 0.72 Crusher Oper/Worker
2006-07-11 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.62 0.67 0.93 Front-end Loader Operator
2005-08-25 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Front-end Loader Operator
2003-06-25 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Washer 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. Feather River Materials Inc 1986 to 2012
  2. Culver Enterprises 2012 to 2015
  3. Spanish Creek Sand & Gravel LLC 2015 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2026 3
2025 5
2024 4
2023 5
2022 5
2021 5
2020 6
2019 8
2018 7
2017 8
2016 7
2015 3
2014 2
2013 3
2012 2
2011 3
2010 3
2009 4
2008 5
2007 4
2006 5
2005 3
2004 3
2003 3
2002 3
2001 1
2000 1
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

Soper Pit sits in Plumas County, California, where the Census mining category is 0.5% 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.
Plumas County, California · Population 19,607
0.5%
Mining share of county employment
$64,946
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 656 0 0 0.0
2026 Q1 110 0 0 0.0
2025 Q4 916 0 0 0.0
2025 Q3 1,130 0 0 0.0
2025 Q2 635 0 0 0.0
2025 Q1 495 0 0 0.0
2024 Q4 1,264 0 0 0.0
2024 Q3 1,347 0 0 0.0
Show 88 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2024 Q2 517 0 0 0.0
2024 Q1 560 0 0 0.0
2023 Q4 1,039 0 0 0.0
2023 Q3 1,069 0 0 0.0
2023 Q2 1,036 0 0 0.0
2023 Q1 90 0 0 0.0
2022 Q4 1,036 1 0 965.3
2022 Q2 1,007 0 0 0.0
2022 Q1 1,139 0 0 0.0
2021 Q4 966 0 0 0.0
2021 Q3 701 1 1 1426.5
2021 Q2 768 0 0 0.0
2021 Q1 41 0 0 0.0
2020 Q4 1,619 0 0 0.0
2020 Q3 850 0 0 0.0
2020 Q2 1,540 0 0 0.0
2020 Q1 141 0 0 0.0
2019 Q4 475 0 0 0.0
2019 Q3 2,115 0 0 0.0
2019 Q2 1,383 0 0 0.0
2019 Q1 0 0 0
2018 Q4 105 0 0 0.0
2018 Q3 1,790 0 0 0.0
2018 Q2 223 3 0 13452.9
2018 Q1 0 0 0
2017 Q4 177 0 0 0.0
2017 Q3 2,870 7 2 2439.0
2017 Q2 1,232 0 0 0.0
2016 Q1 227 0 0 0.0
2015 Q4 3,676 0 0 0.0
2015 Q2 48 0 0 0.0
2015 Q1 4 0 0 0.0
2014 Q4 280 0 0 0.0
2014 Q3 56 0 0 0.0
2014 Q2 20 0 0 0.0
2014 Q1 2 0 0 0.0
2013 Q4 400 0 0 0.0
2013 Q3 222 1 0 4504.5
2013 Q2 2 0 0 0.0
2013 Q1 2 0 0 0.0
2012 Q4 2 0 0 0.0
2012 Q3 799 1 0 1251.6
2012 Q1 1 0 0 0.0
2011 Q4 245 0 0 0.0
2011 Q3 523 3 2 5736.1
2011 Q2 236 10 6 42372.9
2011 Q1 1 0 0 0.0
2010 Q4 471 0 0 0.0
2010 Q3 1,079 3 1 2780.4
2010 Q2 701 0 0 0.0
2010 Q1 41 0 0 0.0
2009 Q4 479 0 0 0.0
2009 Q3 783 0 0 0.0
2009 Q2 1,226 0 0 0.0
2009 Q1 338 0 0 0.0
2008 Q4 1,913 0 0 0.0
2008 Q3 1,617 1 0 618.4
2008 Q2 2,015 0 0 0.0
2008 Q1 1 0 0 0.0
2007 Q4 1,120 1 0 892.9
2007 Q3 1,567 6 1 3829.0
2007 Q2 2,335 0 0 0.0
2007 Q1 1 0 0 0.0
2006 Q4 1,961 0 0 0.0
2006 Q3 931 1 0 1074.1
2006 Q2 579 9 3 15544.0
2006 Q1 160 0 0 0.0
2005 Q4 329 0 0 0.0
2005 Q3 569 8 5 14059.8
2005 Q2 489 0 0 0.0
2005 Q1 0 0 0
2004 Q4 301 0 0 0.0
2004 Q3 523 5 2 9560.2
2004 Q1 342 0 0 0.0
2003 Q4 1,275 0 0 0.0
2003 Q3 1,610 0 0 0.0
2003 Q2 363 1 0 2754.8
2003 Q1 0 0 0
2002 Q4 980 0 0 0.0
2002 Q3 1,412 1 0 708.2
2002 Q2 1,080 0 0 0.0
2002 Q1 0 0 0
2001 Q4 0 0 0
2001 Q3 0 6 5
2001 Q2 960 0 0 0.0
2000 Q3 0 1 0
2000 Q2 80 0 0 0.0
2000 Q1 0 0 0
No fatalities recorded at this mine.

Reportable incidents

1 on file

2012 · 1 incident

September 6, 2012 CA · Metal/Non-Metal outside foreman, leadman OTHER
Culver Enterprises · Fall from machine

A heated argument between the previous owner and the supervisor of the pit. EE got kicked off the loader, hitting his head knocking him unconscious for about 45 seconds. EE had his top plate broken.Doctor concluded EE had a slight concussion. No other injuries were reported.