Last week, Sibanye-Stillwater announced to their employees that they would have to layoff around 700 employees starting on November 12. The mine, which produces palladium and platinum, cited a massive drop in the trading price of palladium, as two years ago it was traded at $2,305 per ounce, and through the first half of this year traded at just $977. They also believe that Russian dumping is a cause of this price drop, as Russia produces over 40% of palladium, and the U.S. has continually increased its imports. As the sale price of palladium fell, production costs did not follow suit, as high inflation and regulation kept costs up. The mine has lost $352 million since the beginning of 2023.
Sibanye-Stillwater is the only primary producer of platinum and palladium in the United States and has two operating palladium mines in Montana. As a mine, they were excluded from the Inflation Reduction Act Section 45X tax credit that may have alleviated some of the pressures of the falling palladium prices.
In the wake of these layoffs, Senator Daines released the following statement:
“Heartbreaking news out of Sibanye-Stillwater Mine as 700 hard-working Montanans are set to lose their jobs as a result of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ failed policies that are crushing our energy industry. It’s time to make a change this November and take back our energy independence.”
Senator Daines then introduced a bill to the Senate to ban the importation of Russian minerals to include: braggite, copper, nickel, palladium, platinum, rhodium, ruthenium, and zinc.
In a post on X, Daines wrote that President Biden and Vice President Harris “failed to protect MT jobs by allowing critical mineral imports from Russia, which is costing MT jobs & funding Russia’s unjust war against Ukraine.”
