The Industrial Minerals Association – North America (IMA-NA) announced the companies and mining operations that received its safety recognition awards. IMA-NA Chairman Doug Smith and IMA-NA President Chris Greissing presented the awards at the IMA-NA’s Annual Meeting in Park City, Utah.
The safety recognition awards program is run in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). Four companies and three individual mining operations were honored.
The IMA-NA Safety Achievement Award recognizes the best reportable injury rate for an individual IMA-NA member company by size category for the preceding calendar year, in this case 2020. The award criteria evaluate a company’s safety performance at all of its mines.
This year’s winners include:
Ciner Wyoming LLC
Green River, Wyo.
Large Category (700,000 or more employee hours)
(751,816 hours)
Old Hickory Clay Co.
Mayfield, Ky.
Medium Category (Fewer than 700,000 but more than 100,000 employee hours)
(198,844 hours)
Vanderbilt Minerals LLC
Norwalk, Conn.
Small Category (Fewer than 100,000 employee hours)
(62,091 hours)
“The safety performance of these IMA members is truly inspiring,” enthused Greissing. “Large Category Honoree Ciner Wyoming worked 751,816 employee hours with two injuries for an injury rate of 0.53 per 200,000 employee work-hours. Medium Category Honoree Old Hickory Clay Co. had zero injuries while working 198,844 hours employee hours, for an injury rate of 0.00 per 200,000 employee work-hours. Small Category Honoree Vanderbilt Minerals also had a zero-injury rate, while working 62,091 employee work-hours. To put that in perspective, the injury rate for all metal and nonmetal mines in 2020 was 1.83.”
“MSHA and IMA-NA strive to help the industry achieve its ultimate goal – sending safe and healthy miners home to their families, every shift, every day,” said Smith, who is also vice president and general manager, Polymers and Coatings, for Imerys in Roswell, Ga. “We’re pleased to recognize IMA-NA member companies that have compiled excellent safety records and who serve as examples for other companies.”
One additional member company in the Medium Category operated all of its mines with zero injuries, although working fewer hours than the honoree (102,194 hours). American Gilsonite Co. (Bonanza, Utah) will receive a certificate marking this significant achievement.
Also recognized are three individual IMA-NA-member mining operations for having the best reportable injury rate for the preceding calendar year in each of the previously described size categories. In every case, each mine had zero injuries for a total injury rate of 0.00 per 200,000 employee work-hours.
This year’s honorees include:
Imerys Refractory Minerals
Mulcoa Plant – Andersonville
Sumter, Ga.
Large Category (700,000 or more employee hours)
(225,316 hours)
KaMin LLC
Macon Site
Twiggs, Ga.
Medium Category (Fewer than 700,000 but more than 100,000 employee hours)
(260,212 hours)
Vanderbilt Minerals LLC
Gouverneur Minerals
St. Lawrence, N.Y.
Small Category (Fewer than 100,000 employee hours)
(41,725 hours)
Fifty-five percent (55.56%) of all IMA-NA member company operations had zero injuries for calendar year 2020, although working fewer hours than the honorees.