The mining industry closed the first quarter with 11 fatalities, with the Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA) last reporting such an incident March 28.
The 11th mining fatality of 2025 occurred at a sand and gravel operation in Kansas. MSHA says the accident involved powered haulage.
Following 28 mining fatalities in 2024, the industry at its current pace will surpass that annual mark by the end of the third quarter this year. The mining industry’s all-time-low fatalities record for a single year is 25.
Margo Lopez, shareholder of the Washington, D.C. office at Ogletree Deakins who contributes regularly to Pit & Quarry, addressed the trend in mining fatalities Jan. 31 during the 2025 Pit & Quarry Roundtable & Conference.
“There was a low back in 2016 of 25 fatalities, and we’d love to see that get lower,” Lopez says. “But it’s up to the industry to make that happen. Not that the industry is doing anything wrong. Mine operators as a whole are doing a great deal to advance safety, but MSHA standards can only go so far.”
The industry opened 2025 with five January fatalities. Three miners died in February accidents, with MSHA reporting another three in March.
The agency classified five of this year’s 11 mining fatalities as powered haulage accidents. Machinery was involved in two of this year’s industry fatalities, while two involved the fall of a face, rib, side or highwall.
Seven of the fatal accidents this year happened at metal/nonmetal mines, while four took place at coal operations. Three of the seven metal/nonmetal operations mine sand and gravel.
