Mining Incidents

Yarber FM821 Clay Pit: 16 MSHA citations Metal/Non-Metal

Controlled by Randall D Smith
Big Spring, Howard County, TX  ·  Intermittent
MSHA Mine ID: 4105201

Yarber FM821 Clay Pit has $3K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 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 2017
16
citations
2
significant & substantial
$2,541
proposed penalties
$2,541
paid to date
100% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $0 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2017
14
inspections on record
92
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: 92 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

Yarber FM821 Clay Pit has $3K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 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.
$3K
proposed penalties
$3K
current assessed
$3K
paid to date
$0
outstanding
16 assessments are final orders; 1 contested dockets.
Of $236 in penalties contested before the Commission, $118 was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2026-03-10.
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.
12.5%
significant & substantial
12.5%
high negligence or reckless
12.5%
reasonably likely or greater
43.8%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 0.0% low, 87.5% moderate, 12.5% 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.
2 citations taken to the federal commission · 13% of citations on record
  • Settled 1 · 50%
  • Vacated or withdrawn 1 · 50%
50%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$236 proposed, $118 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 2018-03-06.
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
CENT 2018-0204 Settlement Manning 2018 $236 → $118
Source: FMSHRC civil penalty dockets and decisions (public record), updated weekly.
Ownership history
  1. West Texas Rock Resources, LLC 2016 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2026 2
2025 2
2024 2
2023 2
2022 2
2021 2
2020 1
2019 2
2018 2
2017 2
2016 2
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

Yarber FM821 Clay Pit sits in Howard County, Texas, where the Census mining category is 11.7% 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.
Howard County, Texas · Population 33,127
11.7%
Mining share of county employment
$71,457
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 376 0 0 0.0
2026 Q1 481 3 0 6237.0
2025 Q4 590 0 0 0.0
2025 Q3 849 0 0 0.0
2025 Q2 1,228 0 0 0.0
2025 Q1 946 1 0 1057.1
2024 Q4 1,037 0 0 0.0
2024 Q3 1,266 2 1 1579.8
Show 32 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2024 Q2 1,073 0 0 0.0
2024 Q1 987 0 0 0.0
2023 Q4 931 0 0 0.0
2023 Q3 669 5 1 7473.8
2023 Q2 817 0 0 0.0
2023 Q1 443 0 0 0.0
2022 Q4 376 0 0 0.0
2022 Q3 466 0 0 0.0
2022 Q2 716 0 0 0.0
2022 Q1 1,057 1 0 946.1
2021 Q4 752 0 0 0.0
2021 Q3 744 0 0 0.0
2021 Q2 0 0 0
2021 Q1 767 2 0 2607.6
2020 Q4 0 0 0
2020 Q3 1,029 0 0 0.0
2020 Q2 571 0 0 0.0
2020 Q1 255 0 0 0.0
2019 Q4 1,049 0 0 0.0
2019 Q3 278 0 0 0.0
2019 Q2 570 0 0 0.0
2019 Q1 911 1 0 1097.7
2018 Q4 1,195 0 0 0.0
2018 Q3 1,300 0 0 0.0
2018 Q2 540 0 0 0.0
2018 Q1 466 0 0 0.0
2017 Q4 883 1 0 1132.5
2017 Q3 745 0 0 0.0
2017 Q2 679 0 0 0.0
2017 Q1 1,068 0 0 0.0
2016 Q4 390 0 0 0.0
2016 Q3 672 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.