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Vortex Mine: 1 recorded fatality Metal/Non-Metal

Controlled by Don Baide
Hobson, Judith Basin County, MT  ·  Abandoned
MSHA Mine ID: 2401835

Vortex Mine has $61K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 outstanding across 3 contested dockets, plus health sampling and the full incident record.

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Fatalities
1
Total incidents
1
Years on record
2012
Latest incident
Mar 2012
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2000
84
citations
17
significant & substantial
$60,646
proposed penalties
$9,346
paid to date
15% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $51,300 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
See Yogo Mining Company LLC's full MSHA compliance history →
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
45
inspections on record
1,294
inspection hours
6.5
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.
84 citations across 1,294 inspection hours.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

Vortex Mine has $61K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 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.
$61K
proposed penalties
$9K
current assessed
$9K
paid to date
$0
outstanding
80 assessments are final orders; 3 contested dockets.
Of $53K in penalties contested before the Commission, $2K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2021-04-29.
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.
21.2%
significant & substantial
17.5%
high negligence or reckless
21.2%
reasonably likely or greater
40.0%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 1.2% none, 22.5% low, 58.8% moderate, 17.5% 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.
10 citations taken to the federal commission · 12% of citations on record
  • Settled 9 · 90%
  • Stood as issued 1 · 10%
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 5 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
96%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$53K proposed, $2K 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 2012-10-16.
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 2013-71M Settlement Gill 2013 $52K → $1K
WEST 2012-1206M Settlement Lesnick 2013 $808 → $808
WEST 2012-1481M Dismissal Lesnick 2013 $100 → $100
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: 2003-02-25, 23 years ago
0%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
7
samples
2
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz4
  • Total Carbon,calculated from elemental carbon.2
  • Total Carbon,TC2
  • Respirable dust, <.1mg1
Show the individual readings (9)
Date Contaminant Concentration Limit Conc / limit Occupation
2003-02-25 Total Carbon,TC 226.13 400 0.57 Front-end Loader Operator
2003-02-25 Total Carbon,calculated from elemental carbon. 102.85 400 0.26 Miner, Drift
2003-02-25 Total Carbon,TC 163.26 400 0.41 Miner, Drift
2003-02-25 Total Carbon,calculated from elemental carbon. 177.02 400 0.44 Front-end Loader Operator
2002-05-15 Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz 2.63 Miner, Drift
2001-06-07 Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz 0.81 Front-end Loader Operator
2001-06-07 Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz 1.98 Drill Operator, Jumbo Perc.
2001-06-07 Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz 0.55 Front-end Loader Operator
2000-08-31 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Slusher 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.

Vortex Mine recorded 0.00 reportable injury cases per 100 full-time workers in 2001.

Injury rate, 2001
ⓘ This rate is reportable injury cases per 100 full-time-equivalent workers per year, computed as 200,000 times cases divided by MSHA operator-reported employee-hours. Cases are injuries MSHA graded degree 01 through 07; accident-only events that hurt no one are excluded, and so are contractor injuries, whose hours do not attach to a single mine. Rates begin in 2000, when quarterly employment reporting starts, and are withheld below 20,000 hours in a year.
0.00
total case rate
0.00
days-away rate
0.000
fatality rate
No reportable injury cases in any year shown. Employee-hours were reported in each of those years, so these are true zeros rather than missing data. Citations, listed in the compliance record above, are inspector-found violations and are counted separately from worker injuries.
Below average. The US metal and nonmetal mining average was 4.48 and the all-US-mining average was 5.26 cases per 100 workers.
In Montana, metal and nonmetal mining averaged 7.26 cases per 100 workers that year.
Under 100,000 employee-hours were reported that year, so a single case moves the rate by two or more. Read the figure as approximate.
Source: injury cases from MSHA accident and injury records; employee-hours from MSHA quarterly employment reports. Rate is cases per 100 full-time-equivalent workers, operator employees only.
Ownership history
  1. Vortex Mining 1986 to 2002
  2. Yogo Creek Mining LLC 2002 to 2005
  3. Kim Lanny Perry 2005 to 2010
  4. Blue Ice Sapphire Mining, Inc. 2010 to 2017
  5. Yogo Mining Company LLC 2017 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2021 1
2014 4
2013 0
2012 2
2011 2
2010 1
2005 1
2004 9
2003 6
2002 4
2001 11
2000 6
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

Vortex Mine sits in Judith Basin County, Montana, where the Census mining category is 0.0% 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.
Judith Basin County, Montana · Population 2,053
0.0%
Mining share of county employment
$55,417
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
2021 Q4 921 0 0 0.0
2014 Q3 1,560 0 0 0.0
2014 Q2 3,096 2 0 646.0
2014 Q1 0 3 1
2013 Q4 0 0 0
2013 Q3 0 1 0
2013 Q2 0 0 0
2013 Q1 0 0 0
Show 32 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2012 Q4 0 0 0
2012 Q3 480 0 0 0.0
2012 Q2 250 10 5 40000.0
2012 Q1 80 1 0 12500.0
2011 Q1 960 1 0 1041.7
2010 Q4 80 0 0 0.0
2010 Q3 80 0 0 0.0
2010 Q2 200 0 0 0.0
2005 Q4 40 0 0 0.0
2005 Q3 10 0 0 0.0
2005 Q2 80 0 0 0.0
2005 Q1 20 0 0 0.0
2004 Q4 1,739 0 0 0.0
2004 Q3 4,383 0 0 0.0
2004 Q2 3,963 0 0 0.0
2004 Q1 3,063 0 0 0.0
2003 Q4 2,658 0 0 0.0
2003 Q3 3,782 0 0 0.0
2003 Q2 2,440 2 0 819.7
2003 Q1 1,484 1 0 673.9
2002 Q4 288 8 2 27777.8
2002 Q3 2,232 0 0 0.0
2002 Q2 2,160 2 1 925.9
2002 Q1 160 0 0 0.0
2001 Q4 4,872 0 0 0.0
2001 Q3 5,384 0 0 0.0
2001 Q2 5,466 12 4 2195.4
2001 Q1 5,513 5 2 906.9
2000 Q4 3,500 0 0 0.0
2000 Q3 1,577 1 0 634.1
2000 Q2 1,934 0 0 0.0
2000 Q1 2,070 0 0 0.0

Fatalities at this mine

1 recorded
March 20, 2012 MT · Metal/Non-Metal bulldozer operator, universal operator, heavy equipment operator, operating engineer Fatality · FALL OF FACE/RIB/PILLAR/SIDE/HIGHWALL
Blue Ice Sapphire Mining, Inc. · Struck by falling object

This accident has already been investigated by MSHA. The victim was found approximately 250 feet inside the mine. He was working alone and had been struck by a fall of rib.