# Black Thunder

- **MSHA mine ID:** 4800977
- **Status:** Active
- **Type / commodity:** Surface / Coal (Bituminous)
- **Location:** Campbell, WY
- **Operator:** Thunder Basin Coal Company LLC
- **Controller:** Core Natural Resources Inc
- **Public source rows linked:** 23,694
- **Source coverage:** 17 / 20
- **Generated:** 2026-10-13T11:26:59.401Z

## Current entity hierarchy

**Core Natural Resources Inc (0189840) → Thunder Basin Coal Company LLC (P24224) → Black Thunder (4800977)**

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

## Controller and operator valid-time history

- **Atlantic Richfield Company → Thunder Basin Coal Company Llc:** 1975-01-01 through 1998-05-31; derived from co-tenure at mine 4800977; source `msha-controller-operator-history`.
- **Ashland Inc et al → Thunder Basin Coal Company LLC:** 1998-06-01 through 2006-02-02; derived from co-tenure at mine 4800977; source `msha-controller-operator-history`.
- **Arch Resources Inc → Thunder Basin Coal Company LLC:** 2006-02-03 through 2025-01-13; derived from co-tenure at mine 4800977; source `msha-controller-operator-history`.
- **Core Natural Resources Inc → Thunder Basin Coal Company LLC:** 2025-01-14 through current/open; derived from co-tenure at mine 4800977; source `msha-controller-operator-history`.

- History rows: 4
- Typed edges: 10
- 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: 2026-10-13T11:19:05.459773+00:00.

## Assessment signals

1. **SAFETY — 89 since 2021:** Accidents and injuries 577 historical accident/injury rows; 4 coded fatalities and 8,856 lost days across the published record.
2. **COMPLIANCE — 517 since 2021:** Violations and penalties 1,623 violation rows across the full record; 352 carry an S&S flag and $1,212,772 appears in current assessed amounts.
3. **HEALTH — 2K samples:** Occupational health samples 1,401 coal dust; 142 coal quartz; 321 noise. 0 personal-sample rows have a published C/E ratio above 1; 35 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 — 9.6M tons:** Quarterly production and employment 410K employee hours and 802 summed average employees across reported subunits in the latest published quarter.
5. **LEGAL — 237 linked rows:** Contests, conferences and decisions 85 contested-violation rows, 92 civil-penalty docket/decision rows, and 60 conference records linked by issuance number.
6. **CONTRACTORS — 80 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 — 52 since 2021:** Inspections 369 inspection events and 29K published inspection hours across the historical record.

## EIA annual operating context

- **Reporting year:** 2024
- **Production:** 44,480,976 short tons
- **Labor hours:** 1,836,481
- **Average employees:** 924
- **Coal supply region:** Powder River Basin
- **Union code:** Not published
- **Published rows under this MSHA ID:** 1

## Recent Title 30 crosswalk

Snapshot current through 2026-08-19.

- **30 CFR 77.1606 — Loading and haulage equipment; inspection and maintenance.** (2 retained recent rows) — https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-30/chapter-I/subchapter-O/part-77/subpart-Q/section-77.1606
- **30 CFR 77.505 — Cable fittings; suitability.** (1 retained recent row) — https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-30/chapter-I/subchapter-O/part-77/subpart-F/section-77.505
- **30 CFR 77.1605 — Loading and haulage equipment; installations.** (1 retained recent row) — https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-30/chapter-I/subchapter-O/part-77/subpart-Q/section-77.1605
- **30 CFR 77.602 — Permanent splicing of trailing cables.** (1 retained recent row) — https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-30/chapter-I/subchapter-O/part-77/subpart-G/section-77.602
- **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
- **30 CFR 77.1110 — Examination and maintenance of firefighting equipment.** (2 retained recent rows) — https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-30/chapter-I/subchapter-O/part-77/subpart-L/section-77.1110
- **30 CFR 77.400 — Mechanical equipment guards.** (1 retained recent row) — https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-30/chapter-I/subchapter-O/part-77/subpart-E/section-77.400
- **30 CFR 77.1713 — Daily inspection of surface coal mine; certified person; reports of inspection.** (1 retained recent row) — https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-30/chapter-I/subchapter-O/part-77/subpart-R/section-77.1713
- **30 CFR 77.502 — Electric equipment; examination, testing, and maintenance.** (1 retained recent row) — https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-30/chapter-I/subchapter-O/part-77/subpart-F/section-77.502
- **30 CFR 77.410 — Mobile equipment; automatic warning devices.** (1 retained recent row) — https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-30/chapter-I/subchapter-O/part-77/subpart-E/section-77.410

## Source coverage

- **Accident, Injuries, and Illnesses:** 577 rows; 2000-02-22 through 2026-09-05; source ID `msha-accidents`
- **Addresses of Record:** 1 rows; 1980-12-01 through 1980-12-01; source ID `msha-addresses`
- **Assessed Violations:** 1,575 rows; 2000-05-24 through 2026-06-08; source ID `msha-assessed-violations`
- **Civil Penalty Dockets and Decisions:** 92 rows; 2003-11-10 through 2026-08-26; source ID `msha-civil-penalty-dockets-decisions`
- **Coal Dust Samples:** 1,401 rows; 2000-03-09 through 2055-07-16; source ID `msha-coal-dust-samples`
- **Conferences:** 60 rows; 2002-11-22 through 2023-10-26; source ID `msha-conferences`
- **Contested Violations:** 85 rows; 2005-03-08 through 2026-06-03; source ID `msha-contested-violations`
- **Contractor Employment and Production — Quarterly:** 14,024 rows; unknown through unknown; source ID `msha-contractor-production-quarterly`
- **Contractor Employment and Production — Yearly:** 3,030 rows; unknown through unknown; source ID `msha-contractor-production-yearly`
- **Controller and Operator History:** 4 rows; 1975-01-01 through 1998-06-01; source ID `msha-controller-operator-history`
- **Inspections:** 369 rows; 2000-01-26 through 2026-10-01; source ID `msha-inspections`
- **Mine Employment and Production — Quarterly:** 310 rows; unknown through unknown; source ID `msha-mine-production-quarterly`
- **Mine Employment and Production — Yearly:** 79 rows; unknown through unknown; source ID `msha-mine-production-yearly`
- **Mines:** 1 rows; unknown through unknown; source ID `msha-mines`
- **Noise Samples:** 321 rows; 2000-05-24 through 2026-04-27; source ID `msha-noise-samples`
- **Quartz Samples — Coal:** 142 rows; 2000-10-16 through 2026-05-11; source ID `msha-quartz-samples`
- **Violations:** 1,623 rows; 2000-05-24 through 2026-10-05; 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/black-thunder-4800977`
- JSON: `/api/v1/mines/black-thunder-4800977`
- Silica records, units, sample status and quarterly means: `/api/v1/mines/4800977/silica` (snapshot year by default; `?year=all` for history; `&format=csv` for all matching rows)
- Relationship JSON: `/api/v1/mines/4800977/relationships`
- MCP resource: `mine://4800977/assessment`
- Complete Title 30 corpus: `/data/title30-sections.json`