About 700 people will be laid off from Sibanye-Stillwater’s Montana mines, part of the largest platinum and palladium mining operation in North America.
The mines themselves are in the mountains of Sweet Grass and Stillwater counties, but the hundreds of workers live spread out in towns across south central Montana.
Leslie Feigel with the Livingston Chamber of Commerce said that includes more than one-hundred workers in Park County.
“When you look at the amount of jobs just in one area, it’s going to be very difficult,” Fiegel said.
Sibanye-Stillwater cites low palladium prices and Russian competition in the market as the reason for the recent layoffs.
Management says the Montana operations haven’t been profitable since the latter part of 2022, which Stillwater County Commissioner Tyrel Hamilton said trickled down in the form of tax income to the county.
“Those numbers are reflected in definitely revenue received through Stillwater County,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton said the county struck nearly $2.5 million from its general budget this year and “that reduction is to try to offset the losses from the mine revenue so that our taxpayers don’t have to pick up that burden.”
According to the Montana Department of Labor and Industry, the layoff of 700 people reflects 13 percent of total payroll jobs in Stillwater and Sweet Grass Counties.
Columbus Mayor Webb Mandeville says there are still a lot of unknowns about impacts to the community and its members.
“We just feel bad for all the families that are affected, not only with the layoffs but the uncertainty about what that means in their families’ lives,” Mandeville said.
According to Sibanye-Stillwater, layoffs are to take effect on November 12 and later.
