Montana miner to lay off hundreds due to declining palladium prices

Old and New, Mont. — The owner of the only platinum and palladium mines in the U.S. announced Thursday that it will lay off hundreds of workers in Montana because of falling prices for palladium, which is used in catalytic converters.

The precious metal’s price, which was around $2,300 an ounce two years ago, has fallen below $1,000 an ounce in the past three months, Sibanye-Stillwater Executive Vice President Kevin Robertson said in a letter to employees detailing expected 700 layoffs later this year.

“We believe Russian dumping is a cause of this sharp price distortion,” he wrote. “Russia produces over 40% of the world’s palladium supply, and rising palladium imports have flooded the U.S. market in recent years.”

Sibanye-Stillwater gave its employees 60 days’ notice of the layoffs, as required by federal law.

Montana U.S. Senators Steve Daines, a Republican, and Jon Tester, a Democrat, said Thursday they will introduce legislation to ban the U.S. from importing critical minerals from Russia, including platinum and palladium. Daines’ bill would end the import ban one year after Russia ends its war with Ukraine.

The south-central Montana mine complex includes the Stillwater West and Stillwater East operations near Nye, and the East Boulder operation south of Big Timber. It has lost more than $350 million since the start of 2023, Robertson said, despite cutting production costs.

The company is idling its Stillwater West operations. It is also reducing operations in East Boulder and at a smelter and metals refinery in Columbus. Management will work to improve efficiency, which will allow the Stillwater West mine to reopen, Robertson said.

The layoffs would take place one year after the company was founded stopped working on an expansion project100 employees laid off, 30 other positions left unfilled and the amount of work for contractors reduced due to falling palladium prices.