Lead-zinc ore mines in the US: 10 open mines
Updated November 6, 2026. Source: US Department of Labor, Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), Open Government Data Sets.
MSHA lists 10 open lead-zinc ore mines in the US, run by 5 operators and employing 1,429 people. Since January 1, 2022 its inspectors issued 2,639 citations and orders there with $1,685,900 in proposed penalties, and operators reported 309 injury or illness cases, 1 of them fatal. The operators with the most open mines are Doe Run Company; Teck Alaska Inc; Empire State Mines LLC. Data from MSHA, November 6, 2026.
The request: Get every open lead-zinc ore mine from MSHA with its operator, employees, and the operator's website, headquarters and size. $10 of work on sign-up, no card.
SpecStream is the live web data engine for teams and agents. It reads the mine, citation, inspection and accident files that MSHA publishes, and this page is that reading. Ask for the mines of a commodity, state or operator with the operator's headquarters, website and size added from the web, and new mines, new citations and new accident reports arrive in your sheet, CRM, Slack or agent as MSHA posts them.
- Open mines
- 10
- Operators
- 5
- Employees
- 1,429
- Active
- 9
- NonProducing
- 1
- Citations and orders since January 1, 2022
- 2,639
- Significant and substantial
- 434 (16.4%)
- Closure orders
- 32
- High negligence or reckless
- 137
- Proposed penalties
- $1,685,900
- Amount paid so far
- $1,386,241
- Inspections
- 534
- Inspector hours on site
- 16,048
- Citations per inspection
- 4.94 (all mines 2.30)
- Accident reports
- 322
- Injury and illness cases
- 309
- Fatalities
- 1
- Latest MSHA record
- November 5, 2026
Operators with the most open mines
Ranked by open mines, then by citations. Sole proprietors and individuals are not listed.
| Operator | Open mines | Employees | Citations since 2022 | Proposed penalties | Injury cases |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Doe Run Company | 6 | 663 | 2,031 | $1,380,530 | 176 |
| Teck Alaska Inc | 1 | 520 | 327 | $211,000 | 71 |
| Empire State Mines LLC | 1 | 140 | 209 | $82,582 | 24 |
| Silver Valley Metals Corp. | 1 | 106 | 38 | $4,306 | 5 |
| South32 Hermosa Inc. | 1 | 0 | 34 | $7,482 | 33 |
Operators with the most citations
Citations and orders issued since January 1, 2022 at their open mines here.
| Operator | Open mines | Employees | Citations since 2022 | Proposed penalties | Injury cases |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Doe Run Company | 6 | 663 | 2,031 | $1,380,530 | 176 |
| Teck Alaska Inc | 1 | 520 | 327 | $211,000 | 71 |
| Empire State Mines LLC | 1 | 140 | 209 | $82,582 | 24 |
| Silver Valley Metals Corp. | 1 | 106 | 38 | $4,306 | 5 |
| South32 Hermosa Inc. | 1 | 0 | 34 | $7,482 | 33 |
Mines with the most citations
Open mines, ranked by citations and orders since January 1, 2022.
| Mine | Operator | County | Main commodity | Employees | Citations since 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Viburnum #35 (Casteel Mine) | Doe Run Company | Iron County, MO | Lead-zinc ore | 98 | 475 |
| Fletcher Mine and Mill | Doe Run Company | Reynolds County, MO | Lead-zinc ore | 189 | 437 |
| Sweetwater Mine/Mill | Doe Run Company | Reynolds County, MO | Lead-zinc ore | 157 | 412 |
| Brushy Creek Mine/Mill | Doe Run Company | Iron County, MO | Lead-zinc ore | 139 | 343 |
| Red Dog Operations | Teck Alaska Inc | Northwest Arctic, AK | Lead-zinc ore | 520 | 327 |
| Buick Mine/Mill | Doe Run Company | Iron County, MO | Lead-zinc ore | 73 | 247 |
| Empire State Mines | Empire State Mines LLC | St Lawrence County, NY | Lead-zinc ore | 140 | 209 |
| Viburnum #29 Mine | Doe Run Company | Washington County, MO | Lead-zinc ore | 7 | 117 |
| Bunker Hill Mine | Silver Valley Metals Corp. | Shoshone County, ID | Lead-zinc ore | 106 | 38 |
| Hermosa Mine | South32 Hermosa Inc. | Santa Cruz County, AZ | Lead-zinc ore | 0 | 34 |
States
Citations and injury cases by year
Calendar years since 2022; 2026 runs to the date of the MSHA files.
| Year | Citations and orders | Significant and substantial | Proposed penalties | Injury and illness cases |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 362 | 55 | $168,261 | 63 |
| 2023 | 504 | 78 | $282,107 | 52 |
| 2024 | 617 | 104 | $395,516 | 64 |
| 2025 | 594 | 110 | $543,720 | 72 |
| 2026 | 562 | 87 | $296,296 | 58 |
Standards cited most at lead-zinc ore mines
Sections of Title 30 of the Code of Federal Regulations named on the citations, with the part each belongs to.
| Standard | What the part covers | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 30 CFR 57.14100 | Underground metal and nonmetal mines | 211 |
| 30 CFR 57.12028 | Underground metal and nonmetal mines | 158 |
| 30 CFR 57.4201 | Underground metal and nonmetal mines | 154 |
| 30 CFR 57.20003 | Underground metal and nonmetal mines | 140 |
| 30 CFR 57.12004 | Underground metal and nonmetal mines | 118 |
| 30 CFR 57.12032 | Underground metal and nonmetal mines | 106 |
| 30 CFR 57.3200 | Underground metal and nonmetal mines | 68 |
| 30 CFR 57.14112 | Underground metal and nonmetal mines | 59 |
| 30 CFR 56.20003 | Surface metal and nonmetal mines | 56 |
| 30 CFR 57.14207 | Underground metal and nonmetal mines | 55 |
| 30 CFR 57.14107 | Underground metal and nonmetal mines | 46 |
| 30 CFR 57.11001 | Underground metal and nonmetal mines | 45 |
| 30 CFR 57.12008 | Underground metal and nonmetal mines | 41 |
| 30 CFR 57.4102 | Underground metal and nonmetal mines | 35 |
| 30 CFR 57.12006 | Underground metal and nonmetal mines | 34 |
Injury and illness cases at lead-zinc ore mines
Accident reports by degree of injury, as the operator reported them to MSHA.
| Degree | Cases |
|---|---|
| Fatality | 1 |
| Permanent disability | 2 |
| Days away from work or restricted activity | 174 |
| No lost time, or an occupational illness | 132 |
What the accident reports at lead-zinc ore mines describe
Accident classification, as MSHA codes the circumstances that contributed most directly.
| Classification | Reports |
|---|---|
| Handling of materials | 97 |
| Disorders (repeated trauma) | 45 |
| Slip or fall of person | 44 |
| Handtools (nonpowered) | 41 |
| Machinery | 22 |
| Powered haulage | 22 |
| Other | 16 |
| Stepping or kneeling on object | 7 |
| Hoisting | 6 |
| Fall of roof or back | 5 |
Equipment named in accident reports at lead-zinc ore mines
| Equipment | Reports |
|---|---|
| Hand tools (not powered) | 44 |
| Hand tools (powered) | 14 |
| Front-end loader | 9 |
| Ore haulage trucks - off highway trucks | 9 |
| Trucks | 7 |
| Elevator | 6 |
| Carriage-mounted drills | 3 |
| Bulldozer | 3 |
| Tractor | 3 |
| Locomotive | 2 |
US government work, public domain. Counts come from the MSHA files published on November 6, 2026. An open mine is one MSHA lists as Active, Intermittent, New Mine, Temporarily Idled or NonProducing; 13,673 were open that day. Citations, penalties, inspections and accident reports run from January 1, 2022. A citation is an inspector's allegation and an operator can contest it; the penalty is the amount MSHA first proposed, before any contest or settlement. An operator is the legal entity MSHA assesses, and a parent company is its controller. Mines run by sole proprietors or by individuals are counted in every total and are not named. This page uses MSHA data and is not endorsed or certified by MSHA. Free to reuse with credit to SpecStream under CC BY 4.0. Spot a wrong value? Write to [email protected] with the link to this page.