Mining Incidents

Varos Mine: 4 MSHA citations Metal/Non-Metal

Natural Sand, Co, Inc · Surface
Controlled by Grant C McKnight
Slippery Rock, Butler County, PA  ·  Intermittent
MSHA Mine ID: 3610143

Varos Mine has $584 in proposed MSHA penalties and $151 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
4
citations
0
significant & substantial
$584
proposed penalties
$433
paid to date
74% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $151 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2016
13
inspections on record
84
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: 84 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

Varos Mine has $584 in proposed MSHA penalties and $151 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.
$584
proposed penalties
$584
current assessed
$433
paid to date
$151
outstanding
4 assessments are final orders; 0 contested dockets.
As of the most recent assessment on 2026-03-18.
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.
0.0%
significant & substantial
50.0%
high negligence or reckless
0.0%
reasonably likely or greater
0.0%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 50.0% low, 0.0% moderate, 50.0% high, 0.0% reckless.
Source: MSHA violations gravity and negligence coding, updated weekly.
Ownership history
  1. Natural Sand, Co, Inc 2015 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2026 1
2025 2
2024 2
2023 2
2022 1
2021 1
2020 2
2019 1
2018 1
2017 1
2016 1
2015 2
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

Varos Mine sits in Butler County, Pennsylvania, 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.
Butler County, Pennsylvania · Population 195,870
0.5%
Mining share of county employment
$86,775
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 535 0 0 0.0
2026 Q1 338 1 0 2958.6
2025 Q4 360 0 0 0.0
2025 Q3 352 0 0 0.0
2025 Q2 523 0 0 0.0
2025 Q1 270 0 0 0.0
2024 Q4 626 0 0 0.0
2024 Q3 325 0 0 0.0
Show 37 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2024 Q2 174 1 0 5747.1
2024 Q1 680 0 0 0.0
2023 Q4 144 0 0 0.0
2023 Q3 1,005 0 0 0.0
2023 Q2 208 0 0 0.0
2023 Q1 810 2 0 2469.1
2022 Q4 178 0 0 0.0
2022 Q3 736 0 0 0.0
2022 Q2 262 0 0 0.0
2022 Q1 148 0 0 0.0
2021 Q4 384 0 0 0.0
2021 Q3 120 0 0 0.0
2021 Q2 315 0 0 0.0
2021 Q1 218 0 0 0.0
2020 Q4 480 0 0 0.0
2020 Q3 281 0 0 0.0
2020 Q2 225 0 0 0.0
2020 Q1 1,278 0 0 0.0
2019 Q4 477 0 0 0.0
2019 Q3 543 0 0 0.0
2019 Q2 576 0 0 0.0
2019 Q1 910 0 0 0.0
2018 Q4 304 0 0 0.0
2018 Q3 504 0 0 0.0
2018 Q2 495 0 0 0.0
2018 Q1 1,110 0 0 0.0
2017 Q4 391 0 0 0.0
2017 Q3 383 0 0 0.0
2017 Q2 427 0 0 0.0
2017 Q1 375 0 0 0.0
2016 Q4 217 0 0 0.0
2016 Q3 197 0 0 0.0
2016 Q2 385 0 0 0.0
2016 Q1 223 0 0 0.0
2015 Q4 501 0 0 0.0
2015 Q3 495 0 0 0.0
2015 Q2 176 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.