November 17, 2025 - The mining industry is up to 29 fatalities this year, with the Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA) shedding light on fatal mine accidents that happened during the 43-day government shutdown.

As the government reopened, MSHA reported on a fatal accident that occurred Sept. 29, as well as two fatalities in October and another two in November.

The Sept. 29 incident, which took place at an underground Nevada gold mine, was classified as a powered haulage accident. Less than three weeks later, on Oct. 16, a miner died at a lime facility in an accident MSHA classified as a slip or fall of a person.

Another miner died Oct. 28 at a crushed stone operation in Florida. MSHA characterized the incident as a powered haulage accident. Yet another miner died in a powered haulage accident Nov. 6 at an underground coal mine in West Virginia.

The last MSHA-reported fatality also occurred in West Virginia, with MSHA attributing the Nov. 8 accident at an underground coal mine to inundation.

Of the 29 fatal mine accidents in 2025, nearly half (13) were due to powered haulage. MSHA attributed four fatal accidents this year to machinery.

Other fatal accident causes in 2025 include electrical (2); fall of face, rib, side or highwall (2); fall or roof or back (2); falling rock or sliding rock or material of any kind (2); explosives and breaking agents (1); hoisting (1); inundation (1); and slip or fall of a person (1).

By state, West Virginia has the most mine fatalities this year with five. Texas is next with four, followed by Missouri (3), California (2) and Pennsylvania (2). Thirteen states have one mine fatality in 2025, including Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Dakota and Tennessee.

This year’s 29 mine fatalities are one more than the total from 2024. The all-time-low mark for mining fatalities in a single year is 25 – the total in 2016.