United Taconite LLC · Fall from machine
Employee fell from cab of drill when drill tipped over. Employee fell approximately 40 feet from the dab to the next lower bench. Fall resulted in fatal injuries.
United Taconite LLC operator
Controlled by
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc
MSHA operator ID: 0051885
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2004
3,966
citations
626
significant & substantial
$5,701,844
proposed penalties
$4,427,208
paid to date
78% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $1,274,636 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2004
279
inspections on record
18,156
inspection hours
21.8
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.3,966 citations across 18,156 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.$5.7M
proposed penalties
$4.5M
current assessed
$4.4M
paid to date
$67K
outstanding
3,814 assessments are final orders; 112 contested dockets.
As of the most recent assessment on 2026-05-13.
Source: MSHA assessed-violations and conference/litigation data, updated weekly.
Top causes
- MACHINERY 1 fatality · 41 non-fatal
- ELECTRICAL 1 fatality · 2 non-fatal
- HANDLING OF MATERIALS 133 non-fatal
- SLIP OR FALL OF PERSON 71 non-fatal
- HANDTOOLS (NONPOWERED) 43 non-fatal
- DISORDERS (REPEATED TRAUMA) 32 non-fatal
Incident timeline
2026
5
2025
10
2024
15
2023
13
2022
9
2021
12
2020
11
2019
18
2018
19
2017
21
2016
13
2015
7
2014
17
2013
23
2012
16
2011
23
2010
20
2009
29
2008
23
2007
18 (1f)
2006
20 (1f)
2005
31
2004
27
2003
3
Mines on record
- United Plant MN
- United - Mine MN
Fatalities under this operator
2 recordedWatch this operator
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The full compliance file on United Taconite LLC
A dated report covering the 26-year penalty trail, line-item violation pattern, contest and docket posture, rate-normalized peer benchmark, and full fatality history. Delivered as a PDF with the underlying data as CSV.