Mining Incidents

Stampede Pass: 24 MSHA citations Metal/Non-Metal

MSK Mining · Surface
Controlled by Keith LaFountain
Ellensburg, Kittitas County, WA  ·  Temporarily Idled
MSHA Mine ID: 4503836

Stampede Pass has $5K in proposed MSHA penalties and $1K 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 2023
24
citations
8
significant & substantial
$5,288
proposed penalties
$3,822
paid to date
72% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $1,466 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2023
10
inspections on record
132
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: 132 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

Stampede Pass has $5K in proposed MSHA penalties and $1K 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.
$5K
proposed penalties
$5K
current assessed
$4K
paid to date
$1K
outstanding
24 assessments are final orders; 0 contested dockets.
As of the most recent assessment on 2026-04-08.
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.
33.3%
significant & substantial
29.2%
high negligence or reckless
33.3%
reasonably likely or greater
37.5%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 4.2% low, 66.7% moderate, 29.2% 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: 2025-08-14
1
samples
0
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Respirable dust, <.1mg1
Show the individual readings (1)
Date Contaminant Concentration Limit Conc / limit Occupation
2025-08-14 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. GCX LLC 2022 to 2024
  2. MSK Mining 2024 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2024 3
2023 4
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

Stampede Pass sits in Kittitas County, Washington, where the Census mining category is 0.1% 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.
Kittitas County, Washington · Population 44,736
0.1%
Mining share of county employment
$69,928
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
2024 Q3 240 0 0 0.0
2023 Q2 1,476 1 0 677.5
2023 Q1 1,684 8 4 4750.6

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.