Two miners working in an underground bin excavation were attempting to level the muckpile by blowing muck down a hole at the brow. They were both tied to retractable fall restraints when the muckpile slid down the repose angle unexpectedly. One employee manually pulled his line and engaged his restraint but the second man was engulfed and suffocated by the finely broken muck.
Hecla LimitedOperator
- Fatalities
- 2
- Total incidents
- 492
- Mines on record
- 1
- Years on record
- 2000–2026
Safety benchmark
Recorded fatalities relative to other operators with a fatal MSHA history. Percentile is computed across the 739 operators with at least one recorded fatality.
More recorded fatalities than 73% of operators on file.
Position when operators are sorted by recorded fatalities.
Industry mean: 1.6 fatalities per fatal-history operator.
- TXI (A/K/A Texas Industries Inc)4fatal482 total
- Calmat Company3fatal490 total
- Knight Hawk Coal, LLC2fatal501 total
- Hecla Limitedthis operator2fatal492 total
- Tunnel Ridge, LLC1fatal499 total
Methodology: percentile and rank computed across MSHA operators with at least one recorded fatality. Industry mean is the average across that same population. Peers are sampled by closest total-incident count, regardless of fatality outcome.
Get an email the moment a new MSHA-reportable accident lands at any mine on file under Hecla Limited. Useful for 105(c) defense intake, FMSHRC docket prep, and active client monitoring.
Top causes
- SLIP OR FALL OF PERSON1 fatality · 47 non-fatal
- FALL OF ROOF OR BACK1 fatality · 42 non-fatal
- HANDLING OF MATERIALS103 non-fatal
- HOISTING101 non-fatal
- MACHINERY53 non-fatal
- HANDTOOLS (NONPOWERED)40 non-fatal
Incident timeline
Mines on record
Fatalities under this operator
2 recordedA ground/roof fall occurred in the 6150-15 West Stope completely burying an employee under 30 feet of rock.