BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A Montana precious metals mine received 27 citations in recent safety inspections triggered by the death of a worker.
The Mine Safety and Health Administration says 11 of the citations issued to Stillwater Mining Co. were for significant violations of mine safety regulations.
Forty-two-year-old Dale Madson was killed at Stillwater’s platinum and palladium mine near Nye in October. Madson crashed while driving a piece of equipment 1,200 feet underground.
Subsequent problems found by inspectors range from spilled fuel that could pose a fire hazard and loose rocks that could fall on miners, to a secondary escape route that was padlocked shut.
MSHA increased inspections at mines with a poor compliance history after a 2010 explosion killed 29 men in West Virginia’s Upper Big Branch mine.
___
Online:
MSHA:
