Mineral Mining, VTCA Mine Safety Program - 2026 Mineral Mine Safety Awards

The Virginia Department of Energy announced the 2026 Mineral Mine Safety Award recipients, recognizing eight Virginia mineral mining operations that recorded the highest production in their categories while working without a lost time injury in calendar year 2025.

The Mineral Mine Safety Awards are part of a joint Mine Safety Program between Virginia Energy’s Division of Mineral Mining and the Virginia Transportation Construction Alliance (VTCA). The program highlights exemplary safety performance in Virginia’s quarry and open pit mines and underscores the industry’s commitment to protecting workers while supplying essential construction materials.

In 2025, the winning operations collectively worked 416,948 production hours with no occupational injuries and produced 1,760,734 tons of material. They were selected from 422 permitted mines that together produced 68,927,297 tons and logged 7,296,665 total hours worked across operators, office staff, and contractors.

Quarry Award Recipients

Four quarry operations earned awards based on employee hour categories and tonnage produced without accidents:

• 0–25,000 employee hours: Holston River Quarry – Dublin Quarry 3 (23,273 hours; 117,333 tons)
• 25,000–50,000 employee hours: Luck Stone – Greene Plant (49,521 hours; 996,000 tons)
• 50,000–75,000 employee hours: Luck Stone – Leesburg Plant (71,317 hours; 2,162,000 tons)
• 75,000+ employee hours: Kyanite Mining Corp. – Willis Mountain Mining Company (182,943 hours; 89,469 tons)

Open Pit Award Recipients

Four open pit operations were similarly recognized for incident free production in their respective employee hour brackets:

• 0–5,000 employee hours: South River Stone, LLC – Stuarts Draft (4,602 hours; 32,489 tons)
• 5,000–10,000 employee hours: Triple B Stone – Mine No. 1 (9,760 hours; 42,766 tons)
• 10,000–30,000 employee hours: Titan Mid Atlantic – Castle Sands Co. (27,246 hours; 213,048 tons)
• 30,000+ employee hours: Virginia Vermiculite LLC – R.E. Sansom Mine (48,286 hours; 53,229 tons)

Of Virginia’s 422 mineral mines, 373 reported zero accidents in 2025, while only 45 had incidents that placed them at risk of not qualifying for safety recognition. In total, 3,698 operator employees (2,959 mine workers and 734 office workers) and 2,782 contract workers—6,476 workers overall—contributed to more than 7.2 million hours worked at mineral mining operations across the Commonwealth.

“The Mineral Mining/Virginia Transportation Construction Alliance Mine Safety Program demonstrates that strong production and strong safety go hand in hand,” said Phil Skorupa, Director of the Division of Mineral Mining at Virginia Energy. “These award-winning operations show what can be achieved when companies invest in training, planning, and a culture that sends every worker home safe at the end of the day.”

Virginia Energy and VTCA formally recognized the 2026 Mineral Mine Safety Award recipients at their Annual Meeting at the Homestead. For more information about Virginia’s mineral mining program, safety initiatives, and permitting, visit www.energy.virginia.gov.