March 12, 2025 - Less than three months into 2025, the Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA) has already reported more than three times the number of mining fatalities it did versus this same point in 2024.

As of March 11, MSHA had reported 10 fatalities in 2025. The total is comparable to the early-year pace seen in 2022 and 2023, with MSHA respectively reporting 30 and 40 fatalities in those years. 

Last year, three miners died in first-quarter accidents. Two fatalities were reported last January, none were reported in February and one was reported in March. 

The mining industry did not record its 10th fatality in 2024 until June.

Recent Accidents

This year, four miners died across a 12-day span between Feb. 22 and March 5. MSHA attributed a Feb. 22 fatal accident at a South Dakota cement plant to powered haulage. The fall of a face, rib, side or highwall, meanwhile, was the cause of a Feb. 28 accident at a West Virginia coal mine.

MSHA reported two more fatalities March 5. The first, a powered haulage incident, happened at a granite operation in North Carolina. The second occurred at a limestone operation in Illinois, with explosives and breaking agents cited as the cause of the accident.

Of the 10 fatalities to occur thus far in 2025, eight occurred at surface mines and two were at underground sites. Powered haulage is the leading cause of fatalities this year with four such instances. Machinery and the fall of a face, rib, side or highwall are each responsible for two. 

The other two fatalities were attributed to falling, rolling, or sliding rock or material of any kind, and explosives and breaking agents.

The early 2025 spike takes place less than a year after the mining industry was trending toward a record annual low in fatalities. Through July of last year, MSHA had only reported 12 mining fatalities. In August and September, 13 fatalities occurred to raise the total to 25.