Trace Fork Coal
Mark Energy, LLC
· Surface
Controlled by
Mark Energy Holdings LLC
Eolia,
Letcher County,
KY
·
Active
MSHA Mine ID: 1519872
Trace Fork has $48K in proposed MSHA penalties and $14K outstanding across 1 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 2020
55
citations
10
significant & substantial
$47,667
proposed penalties
$33,602
paid to date
70% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $14,065 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2020
34
inspections on record
1,421
inspection hours
3.9
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.55 citations across 1,421 inspection hours.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.
Trace Fork has $48K in proposed MSHA penalties and $14K outstanding across 1 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.$48K
proposed penalties
$48K
current assessed
$34K
paid to date
$14K
outstanding
50 assessments are final orders; 1 contested dockets.
As of the most recent assessment on 2025-12-17.
Source: MSHA assessed-violations and conference/litigation data, updated weekly.
See also
the operator's enforcement record
MSHA sampling at Trace Fork shows respirable coal dust averaging 0.09 mg/m3 (100% compliant) across 128 samples.
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.Respirable coal dust
ⓘ
Respirable coal dust and silica figures cover coal facilities. Dust compliance is measured against the current 1.5 mg/m3 standard; samples predating the 2014 standard are included, so compliance rates are a coarse historical signal.0.09
dust avg (mg/m3)
0.73
dust max (mg/m3)
100%
within 1.5 mg/m3
128
samples
Most recent sample: 2026-04-22.
Silica (quartz)
18.5
silica avg (%)
29.4
silica max (%)
10
samples
Most recent sample: 2025-12-11.
Noise
0%
over PEL
69
samples
Most recent sample: 2025-12-04.
Source: MSHA respirable dust, quartz, and noise sampling records, updated weekly.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 Q4 | 9,894 | 4 | 1 | 404.3 |
| 2025 Q3 | 8,072 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 2025 Q2 | 13,984 | 6 | 2 | 429.1 |
| 2025 Q1 | 15,281 | 4 | 0 | 261.8 |
| 2024 Q4 | 12,102 | 9 | 2 | 743.7 |
| 2024 Q3 | 19,125 | 7 | 3 | 366.0 |
| 2024 Q2 | 19,328 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 2024 Q1 | 18,830 | 4 | 1 | 212.4 |
Show 17 earlier quarters Hide earlier quarters
| Quarter | Hours worked | Citations | S&S | Per 1M hrs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 Q4 | 18,830 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 2023 Q3 | 17,579 | 7 | 1 | 398.2 |
| 2023 Q2 | 17,302 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 2023 Q1 | 15,683 | 6 | 0 | 382.6 |
| 2022 Q4 | 12,492 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 2022 Q3 | 13,778 | 2 | 0 | 145.2 |
| 2022 Q2 | 11,178 | 1 | 0 | 89.5 |
| 2022 Q1 | 9,728 | 2 | 0 | 205.6 |
| 2021 Q4 | 8,433 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 2021 Q3 | 9,056 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 2021 Q2 | 9,031 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 2021 Q1 | 6,969 | 1 | 0 | 143.5 |
| 2020 Q4 | 7,892 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 2020 Q3 | 5,938 | 1 | 0 | 168.4 |
| 2020 Q2 | 6,244 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 2020 Q1 | 4,094 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 2019 Q4 | 2,863 | 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.
For insurers, brokers, and safety consultants
The full compliance file on Trace Fork
A dated report covering the 26-year penalty trail, line-item violation pattern, contest and docket posture, rate-normalized peer benchmark, and full fatality history. Delivered as a PDF with the underlying data as CSV.