The Industrial Minerals Association – North America (IMA-NA) announced the companies and mining operations that received its safety recognition awards. IMA-NA Vice Chairman Edward Flynn and IMA-NA President Mark Ellis presented the awards at the IMA-NA’s spring meeting.
The safety recognition awards program is run in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). A list of 12 companies and 43 individual mining operations were honored. The two classes of awards recognize different levels of safety performance.
The IMA-NA Safety Achievement Award recognizes the lowest reportable injury rate for an individual IMA-NA member company by size category for the preceding calendar year, in this case 2013. The award criteria evaluate a company’s safety performance at all of its U.S. facilities and non-U.S. mining sites in North America. This year’s winners include:
FMC Corp.
Philadelphia, Pa.
Large Category (700,000 or more employee hours)
(1,871,309 hours)
KaMin LLC
Macon, Ga.
Medium Category (Fewer than 700,000 but more than 100,000 employee hours)
(697,972 hours)
Old Hickory Clay Co.
Mayfield, Kentucky
Small Category (Fewer than 100,000 employee hours)
(79,640 hours)
“The safety performance of these IMA members is truly inspiring,” said IMA-NA’s Mark Ellis. “Large Category Honoree FMC Corp. worked 1,871,309 employee hours with 12 injuries for an injury rate of 1.28 per 200,000 employee work-hours. Medium Category Honoree KaMin LLC had one injury while working 697,972 hours employee hours, for an injury rate of 0.29 per 200,000 employee work-hours. Small Category Honoree Old Hickory Clay Co. had a zero-reportable injury rate, while working 79,640 employee work-hours. To put that in perspective, the preliminary injury rate for all metal and non-metal mines in 2013 was 2.11.” FMC’s Edward Flynn noted, “Moreover, each of these companies has been honored previously as the best safety-performing company in their respective size category. They’re all repeat honorees and clearly industry leaders in safety performance.”
Nine additional Small Category companies tied the winning zero-reportable injury rate, but had fewer employee hours. “These honorees operated all of their mines throughout 2013 with zero injuries,” Ellis said. “That truly is benchmark mine safety performance.” Each company received a Safety Achievement Certificate in recognition of their outstanding safety performance. The companies include:
Atlanta Sand & Supply Co.
Roberta, Ga.
Small Category (Fewer than 100,000 employee hours)
(69,223 hours)
Southern Filter Media
Greenwell Springs, La.
Small Category (Fewer than 100,000 employee hours)
(43,922 hours)
A. F. Gelhar Co., Inc.
Fairwater, Wis.
Small Category (Fewer than 100,000 employee hours)
(42,671 hours)
Southern Ohio Sand
Willoughby, Ohio
Small Category (Fewer than 100,000 employee hours)
(38,734 hours)
S&B Industrial Minerals GmbH
Berwyn, Pa.
Small Category (Fewer than 100,000 employee hours)
(31,814 hours)
CED Enterprises
Akron, Ohio
Small Category (Fewer than 100,000 employee hours)
(24,802 hours)
George W. Bryant Core Sands, Inc.
McConnellsville, N.Y.
Small Category (Fewer than 100,000 employee hours)
(12,749 hours)
RLF Baldwin Operations LLC
Magnolia Springs, Ala.
Small Category (Fewer than 100,000 employee hours)
(10,620 hours)
Jordan Sands, LLC
North Mankato, Minn.
Small Category (Fewer than 100,000 employee hours)
(2,463 hours)
Also recognized are 43 individual IMA-NA-member U.S. mining operations for working 200,000 continuous employee hours during 2013 without a single reportable employee injury. This year’s honorees include:
First-Time Honorees
Imerys SA
Sylacauga Operations
Talladega County, Ala.
(312,232 and 310,149 hours)
Specialty Minerals, Inc.
Barretts Mill
Beaverhead County, Mont.
(293,649 hours)
Unimin Corporation
Unimin Guion Plant
Izard County, Ark.
(292,125 hours)
Graymont
Genoa Plant
Ottawa County, Ohio
(283,675 hours)
Unimin Corp.
Unimin Utica Plant
La Salle County, Ill.
(272,234 hours)
Carmeuse Lime & Stone, Inc.
Plant Black River Operation
Pendleton County, Ky.
(248,128 hours)
Lhoist North America
Clifton Plant
Bosque County, Texas
(210,056 hours)
Carmeuse Lime & Stone, Inc.
Millersville Operations
Sandusky County, Ohio
(207,216 hours)
Repeat Honorees
Bentonite Performance Minerals LLC (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 & 2013)
Lovell Mill
Bighorn County, Wyo.
(883,904 hours)
Imerys SA (2007, 2010, 2011 & 2013)
Three Forks Mill
Gallatin County, Mont.
(836,167 hours)
KaMin LLC (2010, 2012 & 2013)
Macon Plant
Twiggs County, Ga.
(784,653 hours)
Old Hickory Clay Co. (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 & 2013)
Hickory Clay Mill
Graves County, Ky.
(607,615 hours)
U.S. Silica (2003, 2004, 2011, 2012 & 2013)
Kosse Plant
Limestone County, Texas
(600,185 hours)
KaMin LLC (2010, 2011, 2012 & 2013)
Sandersville Plant
Washington County, Ga.
(589,451 hours)
Southern Filter Media (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 & 2013)
Baywood Plant
East Baton Rouge Parish, La.
(581,741 hours)
Unimin Corp. (2003, 2005, 2007, 2012 & 2013)
Unimin Schoolhouse Quartz Plant
Avery County, N.C.
(473,578 hours)
Unimin Corp. (2004, 2010, 2012 & 2013)
Unimin Red Hill IOTA
Mitchell County, N.C.
(458,084 hours)
Imerys SA (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 & 2013)
Deepstep Land and Mines
Washington County, Ga.
(432,579 hours)
U.S. Silica Co. (2010, 2011, 2012 & 2013)
Rockwood Plant
Wayne County, Mich.
(357,052 hours)
Lhoist North America (2012 & 2013)
Crab Orchard Mine and Mill
Cumberland County, Tenn.
(337,359 hours)
CARBO Ceramics, Inc. (2008, 2010, 2011 & 2013)
Toomsboro
Wilkinson County, Ga.
(318,936 hours)
Imerys SA (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 & 2013)
Macon County Mines
Macon County, Ga.
(306,862 hours)
EP Minerals, LLC (2012 & 2013)
Colado Mine
Pershing County, Nev.
(303,055 hours)
Bentonite Performance Minerals LLC (2006, 2012 & 2013)
Dunphy Mill
Eureka County, Nev.
(298,317 hours)
Carmeuse Lime & Stone Inc. (2012 & 2013)
James River – Plant 2 Operation
Botetourt County, Va.
(292,449 hours)
Lhoist North America (2011 & 2013)
Anderson Mine and Mill
Franklin County, Tenn.
(291,251 hours)
Imerys SA (2005, 2007, 2008, 2011 & 2013)
Sandersville Calcine Plant
Washington County, Ga.
(288,886 hours)
U.S. Silica (2006, 2011, 2012 & 2013)
Dubberly Plant
Webster Parish, La.
(282,458 hours)
U.S. Silica (2003, 2011, 2012 & 2013)
Jackson Plant
Madison County, Tenn.
(281,705 hours)
Imerys SA (2011, 2012 & 2013)
Fernley Plant
Lyon County, Nevada
(266,493 hours)
Imerys SA (2007 & 2013)
K-T Feldspar Plant and Mine
Mitchell County, N.C.
(264,837 hours)
Lhoist North America (2011 & 2013)
Alabaster Mill
Shelby County, Ala.
(263,601 hours)
Amcol International Corp (2012 & 2013)
Yellowtail Mine
Big Horn County, Wyo.
(249,394 hours)
New Enterprise Stone & Lime Company, Inc. (2011 & 2013)
Union Furnace Quarry
Huntingdon County, Pa.
(248,163 hours)
Premier Silica LLC (2007, 2011 & 2013)
Brady Plant
McCulloch County, Texas
(236,733 hours)
Imerys SA (2011 & 2013)
Mulcoa Plant No 2
Sumter County, Ga.
(235,349 hours)
Unimin Corp. (2006, 2007 & 2013)
Unimin Dividing Creek Plant
Cumberland County, N.J.
(232,687 hours)
Unimin Corp. (2010 & 2013)
Unimin Quartz / Feldspar Operation
Mitchell County, N.C.
(231, 497 hours)
Carmeuse Lime & Stone Inc. (2009 & 2013)
Maysville Mine
Mason County, Ky.
(224,605 hours)
Carmeuse Lime & Stone Inc. (2010 & 2013)
Longview Operation
Shelby County, Ala.
(224,251 hours)
Carmeuse Lime & Stone Inc. (2007 & 2013)
Grand River Operation
Lake County, Ohio
(205,841 hours)
Lhoist North America (2003, 2005, 2006, 2007 & 2013)
Henry County Mines & Mill
Henry County, Tenn.
(203,728 hours)
OCI Chemical Corp. (2011 & 2013)
Big Island Mine & Refinery
Sweetwater County, Wyo.
(203,076 hours and 203,380 hours)
“MSHA and IMA-NA strive to help the industry achieve its ultimate goal – sending safe and healthy miners home to their families, every shift, every day,” said Edward Flynn, IMA-NA’s vice chairman and president of FMC Minerals (Philadelphia, Pa.). “We’re pleased to recognize IMA-NA member companies that have compiled excellent safety records and who serve as examples for other companies.”