Mining Incidents

Yellow Stone Mine: 35 MSHA citations Metal/Non-Metal

Best Rock · Surface
Controlled by Gerardo Velasquez
El Paso, El Paso County, TX  ·  Abandoned
MSHA Mine ID: 4103820

Yellow Stone Mine has $5K in proposed MSHA penalties and $4K outstanding across 2 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 2000
35
citations
10
significant & substantial
$5,094
proposed penalties
$638
paid to date
13% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $4,456 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
21
inspections on record
230
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: 230 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

Yellow Stone Mine has $5K in proposed MSHA penalties and $4K outstanding across 2 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
$4K
current assessed
$638
paid to date
$4K
outstanding
33 assessments are final orders; 2 contested dockets.
Of $1K in penalties contested before the Commission, $580 was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2011-03-22.
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.
30.3%
significant & substantial
15.2%
high negligence or reckless
30.3%
reasonably likely or greater
69.7%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 3.0% low, 81.8% moderate, 15.2% 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.
4 citations taken to the federal commission · 11% of citations on record
  • Settled 1 · 25%
  • Stood as issued 3 · 75%
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 1 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
51%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$1K proposed, $580 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 2005-06-16.
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
CENT 2005-212M Settlement Feldman 2005 $1K → $400
CENT 2005-209M Default Lesnick 2005 $180 → $180
Source: FMSHRC civil penalty dockets and decisions (public record), updated weekly.
Ownership history
  1. Southwest Quarry of El Paso 1994 to 2001
  2. Best Rock 2001 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2010 2
2009 2
2008 2
2007 2
2006 2
2005 2
2004 3
2003 3
2002 2
2001 1
2000 1
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

Yellow Stone Mine sits in El Paso County, Texas, where the Census mining category is 0.8% 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.
El Paso County, Texas · Population 866,275
0.8%
Mining share of county employment
$58,859
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
2010 Q4 480 0 0 0.0
2010 Q3 120 0 0 0.0
2010 Q2 340 0 0 0.0
2010 Q1 840 7 2 8333.3
2009 Q4 0 0 0
2009 Q3 480 0 0 0.0
2009 Q2 100 0 0 0.0
2009 Q1 120 1 0 8333.3
Show 34 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2008 Q4 120 0 0 0.0
2008 Q3 420 0 0 0.0
2008 Q2 449 0 0 0.0
2008 Q1 948 0 0 0.0
2007 Q3 920 0 0 0.0
2007 Q2 930 0 0 0.0
2007 Q1 486 0 0 0.0
2006 Q4 960 1 0 1041.7
2006 Q3 960 0 0 0.0
2006 Q2 960 1 0 1041.7
2006 Q1 720 0 0 0.0
2005 Q4 745 0 0 0.0
2005 Q3 760 0 0 0.0
2005 Q2 748 0 0 0.0
2005 Q1 900 6 1 6666.7
2004 Q4 720 0 0 0.0
2004 Q3 1,080 0 0 0.0
2004 Q2 1,152 0 0 0.0
2004 Q1 840 0 0 0.0
2003 Q4 1,260 0 0 0.0
2003 Q3 1,300 0 0 0.0
2003 Q2 400 0 0 0.0
2003 Q1 820 0 0 0.0
2002 Q4 310 0 0 0.0
2002 Q3 360 8 3 22222.2
2002 Q2 340 0 0 0.0
2002 Q1 340 0 0 0.0
2001 Q4 622 0 0 0.0
2001 Q2 520 0 0 0.0
2001 Q1 520 0 0 0.0
2000 Q4 900 0 0 0.0
2000 Q3 0 2 2
2000 Q2 545 0 0 0.0
2000 Q1 0 3 1

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.