# Butcher Knife Surface Mine

- **MSHA mine ID:** 4407257
- **Status:** Abandoned
- **Type / commodity:** Surface / Coal (Bituminous)
- **Location:** Buchanan, VA
- **Operator:** Paramont Coal Company Virginia LLC
- **Controller:** Alpha Natural Resources, Inc.
- **Public source rows linked:** 397
- **Source coverage:** 15 / 20
- **Generated:** 2026-10-17T06:17:15.228Z

## Current entity hierarchy

**Alpha Natural Resources, Inc. (0041211) → Paramont Coal Company Virginia LLC (0050885) → Butcher Knife Surface Mine (4407257)**

Current identity source: `msha-mines`. This is a current snapshot, not a historical claim.

## Controller and operator valid-time history

- **Alpha Natural Resources, Inc. → Paramont Coal Company Virginia LLC:** 2009-07-05 through current/open; derived from co-tenure at mine 4407257; source `msha-controller-operator-history`.

- History rows: 1
- Typed edges: 3
- Interval anomalies: 0
- Valid-time bounds: inclusive; date granularity; null end means open-ended in the upstream history row; not independent proof of present control.
- Transaction-time observation: 2026-10-17T05:35:58.500035+00:00.

## Assessment signals

1. **SAFETY — 0 since 2021:** Accidents and injuries 1 historical accident/injury rows; 0 coded fatalities and 0 lost days across the published record.
2. **COMPLIANCE — 0 since 2021:** Violations and penalties 28 violation rows across the full record; 11 carry an S&S flag and $2,962 appears in current assessed amounts.
3. **HEALTH — 70 samples:** Occupational health samples 46 coal dust; 1 coal quartz; 23 noise. 0 personal-sample rows have a published C/E ratio above 1; 0 noise rows have an action-level or PEL dose above 100%. These are separate measures, not a silica exceedance count. Silica results and sample status are shown separately.
4. **PRODUCTION — No published quarter:** Quarterly production and employment The source remains registered, but no mine-keyed quarterly production row was published.
5. **LEGAL — 4 linked rows:** Contests, conferences and decisions 2 contested-violation rows, 2 civil-penalty docket/decision rows, and 0 conference records linked by issuance number.
6. **CONTRACTORS — 4 linked entities:** Contractors Contractors are linked through this mine’s violation or accident records. Their production and hours cover all their operations, so they are not included in this mine’s totals.
7. **INSPECTIONS — 0 since 2021:** Inspections 18 inspection events and 427 published inspection hours across the historical record.

## EIA annual operating context

No matched record in the 2024 EIA coal-public workbook. This may be inapplicable for a non-coal operation.

## Recent Title 30 crosswalk

Snapshot current through 2026-08-19.

- **30 CFR 77.1104 — Accumulations of combustible materials.** (4 retained recent rows) — https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-30/chapter-I/subchapter-O/part-77/subpart-L/section-77.1104
- **30 CFR 77.1109 — Quantity and location of firefighting equipment.** (1 retained recent row) — https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-30/chapter-I/subchapter-O/part-77/subpart-L/section-77.1109
- **30 CFR 77.1605 — Loading and haulage equipment; installations.** (2 retained recent rows) — https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-30/chapter-I/subchapter-O/part-77/subpart-Q/section-77.1605
- **30 CFR 77.1110 — Examination and maintenance of firefighting equipment.** (1 retained recent row) — https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-30/chapter-I/subchapter-O/part-77/subpart-L/section-77.1110
- **30 CFR 77.513 — Insulating mats at power switches.** (1 retained recent row) — https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-30/chapter-I/subchapter-O/part-77/subpart-F/section-77.513
- **30 CFR 77.1606 — Loading and haulage equipment; inspection and maintenance.** (1 retained recent row) — https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-30/chapter-I/subchapter-O/part-77/subpart-Q/section-77.1606
- **30 CFR 77.404 — Machinery and equipment; operation and maintenance.** (1 retained recent row) — https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-30/chapter-I/subchapter-O/part-77/subpart-E/section-77.404
- **30 CFR 77.1000 — Highwalls, pits and spoil banks; plans.** (1 retained recent row) — https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-30/chapter-I/subchapter-O/part-77/subpart-K/section-77.1000

## Source coverage

- **Accident, Injuries, and Illnesses:** 1 rows; 2014-06-20 through 2014-06-20; source ID `msha-accidents`
- **Addresses of Record:** 1 rows; 2016-05-27 through 2016-05-27; source ID `msha-addresses`
- **Assessed Violations:** 28 rows; 2010-03-18 through 2015-11-18; source ID `msha-assessed-violations`
- **Civil Penalty Dockets and Decisions:** 2 rows; 2011-08-31 through 2011-08-31; source ID `msha-civil-penalty-dockets-decisions`
- **Coal Dust Samples:** 46 rows; 2011-01-13 through 2016-03-24; source ID `msha-coal-dust-samples`
- **Contested Violations:** 2 rows; 2011-01-05 through 2011-01-05; source ID `msha-contested-violations`
- **Contractor Employment and Production — Quarterly:** 201 rows; unknown through unknown; source ID `msha-contractor-production-quarterly`
- **Contractor Employment and Production — Yearly:** 40 rows; unknown through unknown; source ID `msha-contractor-production-yearly`
- **Controller and Operator History:** 1 rows; 2009-07-05 through 2009-07-05; source ID `msha-controller-operator-history`
- **Inspections:** 18 rows; 2009-12-03 through 2015-11-18; source ID `msha-inspections`
- **Mine Employment and Production — Yearly:** 4 rows; unknown through unknown; source ID `msha-mine-production-yearly`
- **Mines:** 1 rows; unknown through unknown; source ID `msha-mines`
- **Noise Samples:** 23 rows; 2011-01-13 through 2015-04-07; source ID `msha-noise-samples`
- **Quartz Samples — Coal:** 1 rows; 2015-04-07 through 2015-04-07; source ID `msha-quartz-samples`
- **Violations:** 28 rows; 2010-03-18 through 2015-11-18; source ID `msha-violations`

## Caveats

- This is public-record decision support, not legal advice or an official MSHA record.
- Missing data can indicate no event, publication delay, an unresolved identity, or inapplicability.
- Contractor production data is entity-level and is not attributed to this mine.

## Alternate representations

- HTML: `/mines/butcher-knife-surface-mine-4407257`
- JSON: `/api/v1/mines/butcher-knife-surface-mine-4407257`
- Silica records, units, sample status and quarterly means: `/api/v1/mines/4407257/silica` (snapshot year by default; `?year=all` for history; `&format=csv` for all matching rows)
- Relationship JSON: `/api/v1/mines/4407257/relationships`
- MCP resource: `mine://4407257/assessment`
- Complete Title 30 corpus: `/data/title30-sections.json`