13% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $183,096 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2018
54
inspections on record
1,766
inspection hours
8.4
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.
149 citations across 1,766 inspection hours.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.
Penalty disposition
ⓘDifferences between proposed and paid penalties reflect both settlements and conference reductions and amounts still owed. Outstanding is the balance currently owed.
$210K
proposed penalties
$210K
current assessed
$27K
paid to date
$183K
outstanding
125 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.
Source: MSHA violations gravity and negligence coding, updated weekly.
Injury rate, 2025
ⓘ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
Below average. The US metal and nonmetal mining average was 1.65 and the all-US-mining average was 1.97 cases per 100 workers.
Year
total case rate
days-away
fatal
2026
0.00
0.00
0.000
2025
0.00
0.00
0.000
2024
3.13
0.78
0.000
2023
3.70
1.48
0.000
2022
0.89
0.00
0.000
2021
1.99
1.00
0.000
2020
2.22
1.11
0.000
2019
2.82
0.00
0.000
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.
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: 2026-03-24
44%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
18
samples
9
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz94 over
Respirable dust, <.1mg6
Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz3
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.
SP Silica of Atascosa, LLC · Struck by rolling or sliding object
EE was operating an excavator in Pit 2 at SPS Atascosa. Pit 2 is located between two tailings ponds. 9:18 AM one of the tailings ponds breached causing tailings mixture to flow into the work site. Tailings mixture tipped over the excavator EE was operating cab side down. The front window broke, tailings mixture engulfed the cab & 75% of the vehicle. Employee could not escape.
December 16, 2022TX · Metal/Non-Metalmaintenance man, mechanic, repair/serviceman, boilermaker, fueler, tire tech, field service techFatality · MACHINERY
SP Silica of Atascosa, LLC · Struck by falling object
Employee was working with a 3 man crew dismantling a Caterpillar 390F Excavator. During dismantling, EE was impacted by the counterweight. The other 2 crew members did not witness the accident.
For insurers, brokers, and safety consultants
Where SP Silica of Atascosa, LLC stands on silica, penalties, and injury rate
MSHA's standard limits respirable silica to 50 micrograms per cubic metre, but MSHA publishes
dust and quartz as separate files and never the silica figure itself. We derive it per sample,
score it against the limit, and set the operator's injury rate against a benchmark built from
the full MSHA operator record. With the 26-year penalty trail, contest posture, and fatality
history. Delivered as a PDF with the underlying data as CSV.