NYE — It’s been a month since Sibanye Stillwater Mining Company laid off hundreds of workers at its Montana facilities.
MTN News was granted a tour of the Stillwater Mine in Nye and the Columbus metallurgical complex on Wednesday, December 18 to see how operations were going since the layoffs took effect.
“Honestly, the day-to-day stuff hasn’t changed that much,” longtime mechanic Kyle Wolf said.
About 70% of the workforce was cut from both facilities and while the daily operations have remained constant — palladium, platinum and other metals are still being extracted — there are noticeable changes for the employees.
“The mining is pretty much the same. It’s just the management that changes,” said miner Lincoln Potter.
Potter, a 17-year employee, has endured multiple management changes in his tenure. These most recent cuts are not the biggest change he’s seen.
The most recent layoffs — which led to the stoppage of production in the entire west side of the mine — caused many workers, Potter included, to shift their schedules.
“After the big change happened, I moved over (to the east side),” Potter said. “It’s pretty much affecting us all. Everything is different.”
Wolf agreed that the cuts have been a challenge.
“It has been a pretty odd transition as far as that stuff goes,” Wolf said. “A lot of the guys, we’ve worked with them for years. Now, you know, half your friends, half your coworkers are gone. It’s just kind of an odd, eerie feeling.”
The emotional losses are one thing, but the loss in production is another. Heather McDowell, a spokeswoman for the mine, said it’s sad to see fewer workers and fewer extractions.
“It is really sad to look at the west side and just see it empty,” McDowell said. “It really wouldn’t look any different to an external eye, but definitely to folks there, it’s a lesser operation than it was.”
While the changes might not be noticeable to outsiders, the loss is evident to those still working there.
“We were forced to reduce about 440 employees,” McDowell said. “Also, we had about 80 who took voluntary severances and then we did have about 120 employees who left through attrition.”
The changeover has been devastating, though McDowell remains hopeful. The layoffs were made in large part because of a significant decrease in the price of palladium, which is one of the mine’s main exports.
“The great thing about the Met complex and even about our mining operations in Stillwater West, they are in a state where they can be ready to go when the palladium market comes back,” McDowell.
So, the mine will stay prepared for reopening, hoping that the palladium prices will recover.
Just like before, the employees that are left will too.
“We knew it was coming, and it sucked that it was happening but we couldn’t change it,” Wolf said. “Most of us, we just kept our noses down and kept doing our job.”
