Mining Incidents

St Thomas Pit: 58 MSHA citations Metal/Non-Metal

Rex Alton Companies, Inc. · Surface
Vincennes, Knox County, IN  ·  Abandoned
MSHA Mine ID: 1200775

St Thomas Pit has $22K in proposed MSHA penalties and $14K outstanding across 3 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 2000
58
citations
18
significant & substantial
$21,819
proposed penalties
$4,321
paid to date
20% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $17,498 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
31
inspections on record
235
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: 235 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

St Thomas Pit has $22K in proposed MSHA penalties and $14K outstanding across 3 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
$18K
current assessed
$4K
paid to date
$14K
outstanding
56 assessments are final orders; 3 contested dockets.
Of $6K in penalties contested before the Commission, $2K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2014-09-30.
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.
32.1%
significant & substantial
16.1%
high negligence or reckless
32.1%
reasonably likely or greater
50.0%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 14.3% low, 69.6% moderate, 16.1% 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.
6 citations taken to the federal commission · 10% of citations on record
  • Settled 2 · 33%
  • Stood as issued 4 · 67%
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 4 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
45%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$2K proposed, $1K 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 2013-06-27.
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
LAKE20010063M Settlement Schroeder 2001 $4K → $1K
LAKE20000119M Settlement Zielinski 2001 $2K → $500
LAKE 2013-553M Default Lesnick 2013 $416 → $416
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: 2001-05-30, 25 years ago
0%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
1
samples
1
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz1
Show the individual readings (1)
Date Contaminant Concentration Limit Conc / limit Occupation
2001-05-30 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.26 1.32 0.20 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. Rex Alton Companies, Inc. 1950 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2016 0
2015 0
2014 1
2013 2
2012 2
2011 2
2010 1
2009 2
2008 2
2007 3
2006 2
2005 3
2004 3
2003 3
2002 4
2001 4
2000 4
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

St Thomas Pit sits in Knox County, Indiana, where the Census mining category is 2.0% 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.
Knox County, Indiana · Population 36,108
2.0%
Mining share of county employment
$58,863
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
2016 Q1 0 0 0
2015 Q4 0 0 0
2015 Q3 0 0 0
2015 Q2 0 0 0
2015 Q1 0 0 0
2014 Q4 0 0 0
2014 Q3 248 2 1 8064.5
2014 Q2 205 0 0 0.0
Show 57 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2014 Q1 118 4 1 33898.3
2013 Q4 682 0 0 0.0
2013 Q3 586 0 0 0.0
2013 Q2 645 4 2 6201.6
2013 Q1 747 0 0 0.0
2012 Q4 874 4 2 4576.7
2012 Q3 1,198 5 0 4173.6
2012 Q2 618 0 0 0.0
2012 Q1 520 0 0 0.0
2011 Q4 1,046 0 0 0.0
2011 Q3 983 1 0 1017.3
2011 Q2 1,056 0 0 0.0
2011 Q1 88 0 0 0.0
2010 Q4 108 0 0 0.0
2010 Q3 59 0 0 0.0
2010 Q2 120 0 0 0.0
2010 Q1 651 0 0 0.0
2009 Q4 790 0 0 0.0
2009 Q3 1,031 8 5 7759.5
2009 Q2 1,007 0 0 0.0
2009 Q1 612 0 0 0.0
2008 Q4 968 0 0 0.0
2008 Q3 616 4 0 6493.5
2008 Q2 1,121 0 0 0.0
2008 Q1 806 0 0 0.0
2007 Q4 1,082 0 0 0.0
2007 Q3 1,469 3 1 2042.2
2007 Q2 300 0 0 0.0
2007 Q1 300 0 0 0.0
2006 Q4 960 0 0 0.0
2006 Q3 960 2 2 2083.3
2006 Q2 1,132 0 0 0.0
2006 Q1 553 0 0 0.0
2005 Q4 646 0 0 0.0
2005 Q3 700 1 0 1428.6
2005 Q2 840 0 0 0.0
2005 Q1 440 0 0 0.0
2004 Q4 680 0 0 0.0
2004 Q3 825 1 0 1212.1
2004 Q2 910 0 0 0.0
2004 Q1 750 0 0 0.0
2003 Q4 950 0 0 0.0
2003 Q3 1,050 6 1 5714.3
2003 Q2 875 0 0 0.0
2003 Q1 780 0 0 0.0
2002 Q4 930 0 0 0.0
2002 Q3 1,210 3 0 2479.3
2002 Q2 1,370 0 0 0.0
2002 Q1 1,552 0 0 0.0
2001 Q4 1,155 0 0 0.0
2001 Q3 1,200 0 0 0.0
2001 Q2 1,030 3 1 2912.6
2001 Q1 540 0 0 0.0
2000 Q4 960 0 0 0.0
2000 Q3 955 0 0 0.0
2000 Q2 880 7 2 7954.5
2000 Q1 480 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.