National Mining Association

September 19, 2002

Mining's Perfect Safety Records Honored with Federal Awards

Embargoed until 12:00 noon, Thursday, September 19, 2002

For Additional Information
Bill Purvis, (202) 463-2620
Carol Raulston, (202) 463-2610

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health David Lauriski today presented Sentinels of Safety Awards to the companies that achieved the best of America's perfect safety records in 2001 in eight categories of mining during a ceremony jointly sponsored by the National Mining Association. It was the 76th presentation of the awards.

NMA President and CEO Jack Gerard said, "These eight winning mines worked a combined 2.9 million employee hours without any time lost to serious injury, or a fatality, and they delivered the metals, materials and energy our nation needs to uphold our quality of life."

"Their exemplary achievement symbolizes a commitment to safety on the part of this industry that is unsurpassed anywhere in the world," he went on, pointing to a general reduction in the incident-rate of lost-time accidents and in fatalities over recent years.

"Dedication, training and technical expertise are the hallmarks of modern mining in seeking improvements in safety," Gerard explained, pointing to 32 other mines that had perfect records in 2001 but were not first-place finishers in their category.

Winning mines were located in Alabama, Arizona, Nebraska, Texas, Tennessee, Virginia and Wyoming.

Commodities produced included building materials, calcium carbonate for consumer products such as paint and film, lead, zinc, copper, molybdenum and coal for both steel-making and electric power.

The MSHA list also commended another 32 mines that did not place first but had perfect safety records through the year. The awards are based on the greatest number of employee-hours worked.

The Sentinels of Safety Award winners by category were:

Underground Coal – Deep Mine #30; Paramont Coal Corp., a subsidiary of Pittston Coal Co.; 175,582 employee-hours; metallurgical coal; Dante, Virginia;
Surface Coal – Black Thunder Mine; Thunder Basin Coal Co. LLC, a subsidiary of Arch Coal; 1,247,939 hours; power fuel; Wright, Wyoming;
Underground Metal – Young Mine; Asarco Inc.; 223,890 hours; lead-zinc; Strawberry Plains, Tennessee;
Underground Nonmetal -- Weeping Water Quarry; Martin Marietta Aggregates; 130,287 hours; limestone; Weeping Water, Nebraska;
Open Pit – Phelps Dodge Sierrita Inc.; Phelps Dodge Mining Co.; 454,936 hours; copper and molybdenum; Green Valley, Arizona;
Quarry – Imerys Gantts Quarry; Imerys Carbonates LLC, 212,051 hours; calcium carbonate; Sylacauga, Alabama;
Bank or Pit – Arena Plant; Hanson Aggregates South Central; 132,565 hours; sand and gravel; Altair, Texas;
Dredge – Briggs Plant; Fordyce Ltd.; 228,816 hours; sand and gravel; Victoria, Texas.

In addition, the following 32 companies were commended for their records:

Underground Coal:

Dugout Canyon Mine, Canyon Fuel Company LLC, Wellington, Utah, 134,402 employee-hours;
Creech #1, Powell Mountain Coal Co. Inc., St. Charles, Virginia, 117,708 hours;
VICC No. 7, Coastal Coal Company LLC, Coeburn, Virginia, 96,982 hours;
And, No. 1 Mine, Regent Allied Carbon Energy Inc., Pound, Virginia, 83,887 hours.
Surface Coal:
Kayenta Mine, Peabody Energy, Kayenta, Arizona, 920,846 employee-hours;
Jewett Mine, Northwestern Resources Co., Jewett, Arizona, 689,827 hours;
Decker Mine, Decker Coal Co., Decker, Montana, 428,111 hours;
And, Falkirk Mine, The Falkirk Mining Company, Underwood, North Dakota, 408,706 hours.
Underground Metal:
Deep Star Mine, Newmont Gold Corp., Carlin, Nevada, 183,560 employee-hours;
Clinch Valley Mine, Pasminco Zinc Inc., Thornhill, Tennessee, 101,293 hours;
San Manuel Mine, BHP Copper, San Manuel, Arizona, 86,002 hours;
And, Lee Smith Mine, Anglogold (Jerritt Canyon) Corp., Elko, Nevada, 53,447 hours.
Underground Non-metal:
Sperry Mine, United States Gypsum Company, Sperry, Iowa, 115,946 employee-hours;
Kerford Limestone Mine, Kerford Limestone Company, Weeping Water, Nebraska, 75,478 hours;
Independent Salt Mine, Independent Salt Company, Kanopolis, Kansas, 72,407;
And, Grand Saline Mine, Morton Salt, a Rohm and Hass Co., Grand Saline, Texas, 59,526 hours.
Open Pit:
Northshore Mine, Northshore Mining Co., Babbitt, Minnesota, 269,110 employee-hours;
Rochester Mine, Coeur Rochester Inc., Lovelock, Nevada, 246,429 hours;
Denton-Rawhide Mine, Kennecott Rawhide Mining Co., Hawthorne, Nevada, 212,874 hours;
And, Kennecott Barneys Canyon, Kennecott Barneys Canyon Mining Co., Bingham Canyon, Utah, 135,854 hours.
Quarry:
Lafarge Building Materials, Lafarge Building Materials Inc., Ravena, New York, 114,534 employee-hours;
TXI Bridgeport Stone Plant, TXI, of Bridgeport, Texas, 107,600 hours;
Servtex Plant, Hanson Aggregates West Inc., New Braunfels, Texas, 102,548 hours;
And, Krome Quarry, Rinker Materials, Miami, Florida, 100,447 hours.
Bank or Pit:
Irwindale Rock Plant, Hanson Aggregate Pacific SW, Irwindale, California, 129,332 employee-hours;
Plant 11, United Metro Materials Inc., Phoenix, Arizona, 126,525 hours;
Eagle Mills Plant, Hanson Aggregates, Bearden, Arkansas, 101,446 hours;
And, Showers Plant, Fordyce Ltd., Victoria Texas, 97,762 hours.
Dredge:
Porter Plant & Pit, RGI Materials, Porter, Texas, 108,680 employee-hours;
Lower Burrell Plant, Hanson Aggregates PMA Inc., New Kensington, Pennsylvania, 62,917 hours;
Muskogee Dredge, APAC-Arkansas, Arkhola, Ft. Smith, Arkansas, 49,082 hours;
And, Marine Aggregates Services, Marine Aggregates Services, Martinez, California, 43,905 hours.

(Please note: The following companies are publicly listed, including Arch Coal, Inc. (NYSE: ACI); Pittston Co. (NYSE: PZB); Phelps Dodge (NYSE: PD); Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU); Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE: NEM); BHP Billiton (NYSE:BHP); AngloGold Ltd. (NYSE: AU); Rohm & Hass Co. (NYSE: ROH); Rio Tinto PLC (NYSE: RTP); Lafarge North America Inc. (NYSE: LAF); Hanson PLC (NYSE: HAN))

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