BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) - A Montana precious metals mine received 27 citations in recent safety inspections triggered by the death of a worker.

The Mine Safety and Health Administration says 11 of the citations issued to Stillwater Mining Co. were for significant violations of mine safety regulations.

Forty-two-year-old Dale Madson was killed at Stillwater's platinum and palladium mine near Nye in October. Madson crashed while driving a piece of equipment 1,200 feet underground.

Subsequent problems found by inspectors range from spilled fuel that could pose a fire hazard and loose rocks that could fall on miners, to a secondary escape route that was padlocked shut.

MSHA increased inspections at mines with a poor compliance history after a 2010 explosion killed 29 men in West Virginia's Upper Big Branch mine.

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