For the third year in a row, J.M. Huber Corp.’s Sandersville Mill of Sandersville, Ga., and Mississippi Lime Co.’s Peerless Mine of Sainte Genevieve, Mo., have won the safety award in their respective categories.
Mining companies in various operational categories were recognized for achieving the greatest number of employee work hours in 2006 without a fatal injury or an injury that resulted in lost workdays. To qualify, a company was required to compile at least 4,000 employee work hours during the year. This year’s 19 winners worked a combined total of almost 2.7 million hours in 2006 without a lost-time injury.
“Showcasing examples of good safety programs is very important,” said Richard E. Stickler, assistant secretary of labor for MSHA. “Such recognition encourages safe operations to continue their best practices and shows the rest of the mining industry that it is indeed possible to run safe mining operations every day of the year.”
Stickler addressed representatives from the winning companies during an awards ceremony on September 19 in Washington.
The Sentinels of Safety award is the oldest established award for occupational safety. The first one was announced by President Herbert Hoover – a former mining engineer – when he was Secretary of Commerce in 1925. The annual safety competition has continued to this day.
Competition winners and mining operations recognized for their safety records in 2006 are listed on the Web at www.msha.gov/SentinelsofSafety/Awards/2007Sentinel/2007sentinelsofsafety.asp.
2006 Sentinels of Safety Award Winners
First place winners and their numbers of consecutive employee hours recorded in each of the sponsored mining categories are as follows:
Large Underground Coal Group
Burke Branch Tipple, Premier Elkhorn Coal Company, Myra, Ky., 151,970 hours
Small Underground Coal Group
Abundance Coal, Inc., Abundance Coal, Inc., Kite, Ky., 56,665 hours
Large Surface Coal Group
Farmersburg Mine, Black Beauty Coal Company, Evansville & Pimento, Ind., 539,695 hours
Small Coal Processing Facility Group
Columbiana Pits, Buckeye Industrial Mining Company, Lisbon, Ohio, 27,445 hours
Large Underground Metal Group
No winner
Small Underground Metal Group
K-2 Mine Site, Kinross Gold Corp Kettle River Operations, Republic, Wash., 29254 hours
Large Underground Nonmetal Group
Peerless Mine, Mississippi Lime Company, Ste. Genevieve, Mo., 279,812 hours
Small Underground Nonmetal Group
Lyons Salt Company, Lyons Salt Company, Lyons, Kan., 42,070 hours
Large Open Pit Group
Boron Operations, US Borax, Inc., Boron, Calif., 449,804 hours
Small Open Pit Group
Tumbledown Mine, Milwhite Inc., Van Horn, Texas, 15,295 hours
Large Quarry Group
Tower Rock St Co St. Genevieve, Tower Rock Stone Company, Columbia, Ill., and Ste. Genevieve, Mo., 229,549 hours
Small Quarry Group
Green Rock Company Inc #1, Green Rock Company, Inc., Alto, Texas, 14,861 hours
Large Dredge Group
Briggs Plant, Fordyce, LTD, Victoria, Texas, 272,424 hours
Small Dredge Group
Augusta Sand Mine, Rinker Materials of Florida Incorporated, Augusta and Grovetown, Ga., 11,543 hours
Large Bank or Pit Group
Sloan Quarry #1001, Frehner Construction Company, Inc., North Las Vegas, Nev., 218,341 hours
Small Bank or Pit Group
Northumberland Sand Plant, Central Builders Supply Company, Sunbury, Pa., 10,029 hours
Large Metal Nonmetal Mill Group
Sandersville Mill, JM Huber Corp, Sandersville, Ga., 306,219 hours
Small Metal Nonmetal Mill Group
Forks of the River Quarry, Rinker Materials South Central, Inc., Knoxville, Tenn., 26,635 hours
Other mining operations with exceptional safety records during 2006 included the following:
Large Underground Coal Group
Tusky, Rosebud Mining Company, Uhrichsville, Ohio, 96,454 hours
Mine #1, Enterprise Mining Company, Whitesburg, Ky., 93,365 hours
Raven Mine #1, ICG Knott County LLC, Kite, Ky., 72796 hours
Trace Fork, Enterprise Mining Company LLC, Whitesburg, Ky., 71,818 hours
Small Underground Coal Group
Mine #1, D&C Mining Corp, Harlan County, Ky., 47,382 hours
Band Mill Mine, Cumberland River Coal Company, Appalachia, Va., 44,705 hours
Parson #1, Cumberland River Coal Company, Letcher County, Ky., 44,072 hours
Slone Branch, Ember Contracting Inc, Pippa Passes, Ky., 36,004 hours
Tallmans Run Mine No. 1, Roblee Coal Company, Buckhannon, W.Va., 35,444 hours
Large Surface Coal Group
Somerville Central Mine, Black Beauty Coal Company, Gibson County, Ind., 468,078 hours
Falkirk Mine, Falkirk Mining Company, Underwood, N.D., 458,328 hours
Francisco Mine, Black Beauty Coal Company, Gibson County, Ind., 374,241 hours
Red Hills Mine, Mississippi Lignite Mining Company, Ackerman, Miss., 349,598 hours
Large Coal Processing Facility Group
Bevins Branch Preparation Plant, McCoy Elkhorn Coal Corp., Pike County, Ky., 142,657 hours
Brooks Run Processing Plant No. 1, Brooks Run Mining Company LLC, Webster County, W.Va., 122,043 hours
Shade Creek Plant, PBC Coals Inc., Somerset County, Pa., 121,538 hours
Prosperity Mine, Five Star Mining Inc., Pike County, Ind., 113,271 hours
Small Coal Processing Facility Group
Riola Mine Complex-Vermilion Grove Porta, Black Beauty Coal Company, Vermilion County, Ill., 25,882 hours
JWR #3, Covol Engineered Fuels LC, Adger, Ala., 25,673 hours
EPB Strip, E P Bender Coal Company, Carrolltown, Pa., 25,566 hours
Smith Branch Plant, DTE Smith Branch LLC, Pineville, W.Va., 24,859 hours
Small Underground Metal Group
Gold Wedge Project, Manhattan Mining Company, Nye County, Nev., 15,980 hours
Discovery Day Mine, Merendon Mining (California) Inc., Siskiyou County, Calif., 14,177 hours
Bunker Hill Mine, Placer Mining Corporation, Shosone County, Idaho, 12,180 hours
Resolution Mine, Resolution Copper Mining LLC, Pinal County, Ariz., 8,037 hours
Large Underground Nonmetal Group
Detroit Salt Mine, The Detroit Salt Co. LLC, Wayne County, Mich., 103,984 hours
Coolspring Mine, Coolspring Stone Supply Inc., Fayette County, Pa. , 80440 hours
Whitney Plant (UG), Hanson Aggregates PMA INC, Westmoreland County, Pa., 64,916 hours
Lemont Underground, Vulcan Materials Company, Will County, Ill., 61,363 hours
Small Underground Non-metal Group
Mine #1, D & C Mining Corp., Harlan County, Ky., 47,382 hours
Band Mill Mine, Cumberland River Coal Company, Wise County, Va., 44,705 hours
Parson #1, Cumberland River Coal Co Inc, Letcher County, Ky., 44,072 hours
Slone Branch, Ember Contracting Inc, Knott County, Ky., 36,004 hours
Tallmans Run Mine No. 1, Roblee Coal Company, Barbour County, W.Va., 35,444 hours
Large Open Pit Group
Ruby Hill Mine, Homestake Mining Company of CA, Eureka County, Nev., 159,231 hours
Phelps Dodge Miami Inc, Phelps Dodge Miami Inc, Gila County, Ariz., 135,519 hours
Vernal Pit & Mill, Simplot Phosphates, LLC, Vernal, Utah, 126,057 hours
Du Pont Florida Mine & Plant, E I DuPont De NeMours & Co Inc, Clay County, Fla., 124,687 hours
Small Open Pit Group
No Agua Mine & Mill, Harborlite Corporation, Taos County, N.M., 15,229 hours
L R Chapman Inc, L R. Chapman Inc., Hancock County, Ky., 14,785 hours
Lewis Mine, NYCO Minerals Inc, Essex County, N.Y., 14,741 hours
Kingman Turquoise Mining Co, Kingman Turquoise Mining, Mojave County, Ariz., 14,559 hours
Large Quarry Group
Three Rivers Quarry, Martin Marietta Materials Inc, Livingston County, Ky., 180,492 hours
Miami Quarry, Florida Rock Industries Inc, Dade County, Fla., 125,046 hours
East Quarry, APAC-Oklahoma Inc., Tulsa County, Okla., 112,517 hours
Helotes Quarry, Vulcan Construction Mats. LP, Bexar County, Texas, 109,413 hours
Small Quarry Group
Rinker Materials Malpie Quarry, Rinker Materials Western Inc, Union County, N.M., 14,801 hours
Oxford Quarry Plant #8, John S Lane & Son Inc, Worcester County, Mass., 14,779 hours
Toccoa Quarry, Hanson Aggregates Southeast, Inc., Toccoa, Ga., 14,658 hours
Hermitage Quarry, Vulcan Construction Materials LP, Davidson County, Tenn., 14,640 hours
Harris Quarry, Northern Aggregates Inc, Mendocino County, Calif., 14,636 hours
Large Dredge Group
Twelve Oaks Pit, Huey Stockstill Inc, Picayune, Miss., 92,338 hours
Avant Mine, Georgia Industrial Minerals, Inc, Washington County, Ga., 71,273 hours
Plant 1, Southern Aggregates LLC, St. Helena County, La., 63,583 hours
Sorter’s Road Sand and Gravel, Sunrise Materials, Porter, Texas, 61,641 hours
Small Dredge Group
Harrin Mine, Harrin Sand & Gravel, Inc., Buncombe County, N.C., 11,240 hours
Sahara Sand of Franklin, Sahara Sand Inc., Gloucester County, N.J., 11,004 hours
Logan #1, Cimarron Sand Company LLC, Logan County, Okla., 10,950 hours
Grace D, Capital Sand Company Inc., Cole County, Mo., 10,923 hours
Large Bank or Pit Group
Schoolhouse Quartz Plant, Unimin Corporation, Avery County, N.C., 218,341 hours
Sun Valley Plant, Calmat Co., Los Angeles, Calif., 136,761 hours
Beck Quarry, Valley Caliche Products, Inc., Hidalgo County, Texas, 125,330 hours
Shower’s Plant, Fordyce Company, Montgomery County, Texas, 114,567 hours
Small Bank or Pit Group
Slate Hill Sand & Gravel, E. Tetz & sons, Inc, Orange County, N.Y., 10,012 hours
Portable Crusher Unit, Burdick Paving, Duchesne County, Utah, 9,987 hours
Smithfield Peat, Smithfield Peat Co., Inc., Smithfield, RI.I., 9,986 hours
Rieth-Riley Materials, Reith-Riley Construction Company, Morgan County, Ind., 9,982 hours
Large Metal Non-metal Mill Group
Toddville Plant, BASF Catalysts LLC, Wilkinson County, Ga., 255,371 hours
The Monarch Cement Company, The Monarch Cement Company, Allen County, Kan., 222,819 hours
Hunter Quarry, Colorado Materials LTD, Comal County, Texas, 188,512 hours
Balcones Plant, CEMEX Inc., Montgomery County, Texas, 188,512 hours
Small Metal Non-metal Mill Group
Dupo Plant #9, Columbia Quarry Company, St. Clair County, Ill., 26,588 hours
Resco Products Inc Cedar Heights, Resco Products Inc, Jackson County, Ohio, 26,502 hours
Rabun Quarry, Vulcan Construction Materials LP, Rabun County, Ga., 26,380 hours
Boone Quarries – East, con-Agg of MO LLC, Boone County, Mo., 26,359 hours