The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration reports there were 29 U.S. mining-related fatalities in 2020, five more than in 2019.
Still, last year was the sixth consecutive year that there were fewer than 30 industry fatalities, the agency said in a press statement on Wednesday, and just five of those deaths occurred in coal mines. The agency called that figure “a historic low.”
Approximately 230,000 miners work across 11,500 metal/nonmetal mines in the U.S., while 64,000 work in the nation’s 1,000 coal mines, according to MSHA.
Assistant Secretary for Mine Safety and Health David G. Zatezalo said in the...