East Boulder Mine

Communities across south central Montana are bracing themselves for the impact of mass layoffs at the Sibanye-Stillwater mining operations that are set to take effect mid-November.

The company Thursday announced roughly 700 people, about 40 percent of staff, will be losing their jobs.

A bill that would prohibit forced private union membership as a job condition in Montana drew lengthy public testimony Tuesday. Republican Rep. Caleb Hinkle of Belgrade told lawmakers his adamant support for right-to-work legislation comes from his time working at a unionized grocery store in 2013.

Montana is getting ready to green light the proposed expansion of a waste-holding pond at a mine in south central Montana.

The state of Montana released its draft environmental assessment for a waste disposal facility expansion at a hardrock mine in south central Montana and…