85% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $2,594,702 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
610
inspections on record
58,945
inspection hours
22.1
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.
13,040 citations across 58,945 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.
$17.4M
proposed penalties
$15.6M
current assessed
$14.9M
paid to date
$703K
outstanding
12,916 assessments are final orders; 348 contested dockets.
Of $9.2M in penalties contested before the Commission, $7.2M was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2026-05-28.
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.
1.54
total case rate
0.29
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
1.13
0.28
0.000
2025
1.54
0.29
0.000
2024
1.68
0.25
0.000
2023
1.52
0.25
0.000
2022
1.58
0.21
0.000
2021
1.24
0.32
0.000
2020
1.23
0.31
0.000
2019
0.92
0.36
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: 2026-03-10
12%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
582
samples
360
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz26443 over
Nickel fumes321 over
Respirable dust, <.1mg104
Fibers, >5um68
Area samples (mill and shop air)
Last sampled: 2026-03-12
60
samples
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.
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.
2,998citations taken to the federal commission · 23% of citations on record
Settled
2,889 · 96%
Stood as issued
26 · 1%
Vacated or withdrawn
1 · 0%
Still open
82 · 3%
79%
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 1,124 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
22%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$9.2M proposed, $7.2M 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 2026-07-08. Vacated and withdrawn citations are removed from the file this view attributes through, so that outcome is slightly undercounted here.
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 operator contested before the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission, with the outcome on record.
August 23, 1998MN · Metal/Non-Metalprep plant foreman, supervisor, mill plant supervisor, kiln supervisorFatality · EXPLODING VESSELS UNDER PRESSURE
United States Steel Corp-Minnesota Ore Operations · Struck by concussion
THE SHIFT MANAGER TURNED THE VALVE ON THE PIPE PLUG WHICH WAS CONNECTED TO AN AIR COMPRESSOR ON THE BANK TO INFLATE THE PLUG. WHEN HE FELT THERE WAS ENOUGH AIR IN THE PIPE PLUG, HE SHUT THE VA LVE AND STATED OUT LOUD, "I THINK THERE IS ENOUGH AIR IN THE BLADDER, BUT THERE IS STILL SEEPAGE BETWEEN THE BLADDER AND THE PIPE." THE DECEASED BENT OVER THE PIPE AND TURNED THE AIR VALVE ON
United States Steel Corp-Minnesota Ore Operations · Struck by powered moving object
THE DECEASED WAS WALKING WEST ON THE NORTH EDGE OF AN EMPLOYEE ROAD WHEN HE WAS STRUCK BY A PRIVATE VEHICLE DRIVEN BY ANOTHER EMPLOYEE WHO WAS TRAVELING WEST TO THE WEST PIT DRY THE ACCIDENT O CCURRED PRIOR TO THE START OF THE SHIFT
Usx Corp · Caught in, under or between a moving and a stationary object
SEE ATTACHMENT-8ECEASED REPORTED TO WORK..FOR THE 5:30PM TO 1:30AM SHIFT.. FROM PRELIM: DRIVING HAUL TRUCK WHEN IT WENT OUT OF CONTROL.EITHER THROWN OR JUMPED FROM VEHICLE AND WAS RUN OVER BY REAR WHEEL. 3
November 9, 1984TN · Metal/Non-Metalhaul/off road/coal/ore/pit/quarry/rock/rubber tire truck driver, transportation truck driverFatality · SLIP OR FALL OF PERSON
Usx Corp · Fall from machine
INJURED APPARENTLY FELL FROM A PARKED HAULAGE TRUCK TO GROUND LEVEL AS HE WAS CLIMBING DOWN OVER THE TRUCK SUPERSTRUCTURE. AT SOME POINT IN HIS DECENT HE FELL AND STRUCK THE LEFT SIDE OF HIS H EAD AND LEFT SHOULDER AGAINST A FLAT SURFACE HE WAS FOUND APPROX. 6 FT IN FRONT O THE PARKED TRUCK, LYING ON HIS BACK, WITH ARMS FOLDED OVER HIS CHEST. HIS HARD HAT SOME 4 FT AWAY.
For insurers, brokers, and safety consultants
Where United States Steel Corp-Minnesota Ore Operations 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.