About 700 workers laid off from the Stillwater mine in September could benefit from a $3.5 million federal grant the state will use for education and retraining.
The mine’s operator, Sibanye-Stillwater, said low metal prices led to a revenue decline that triggered laying off about 40% of its workforce. At the time, the loss amounted to roughly 13% of payroll jobs in Stillwater and Sweet Grass counties. The publicly traded international conglomerate purchased the palladium mine in 2017, more than 30 years after operations started southwest of Columbus.
The Montana Department of Labor and Industry applied for $11.5 million in National Dislocated Worker Grants, a U.S. Department of Labor program that gives money to state and local agencies to cover the cost of education opportunities, retraining programs and workplace equipment for individuals after localized economic disruptions.
Montana received funds from the same pool of money in July, when the federal government distributed $800,000 following the closures of Pyramid Lumber and Roseburg Forest Products in Missoula County.
Sam Loveridge, a public information officer at Montana DLI, said a broad range of applicants can apply for a piece of the federal grant, including spouses of former Stillwater workers and individuals at businesses that relied on the mine’s economic footprint. In addition to education and retraining, the funding can be used to purchase workplace equipment for individuals who have found new employment.
Sibanye-Stillwater workers in Montana are represented by United Steelworkers Local 11-0001, which did not make a representative available for comment Thursday. Montana AFL-CIO, the state’s umbrella organization for private-sector unions, said they are reviewing what meaningful impact this will have for workers on the ground.
The grant supplies Montana with roughly $5,000 per former Stillwater worker, though an exact dollar per capita figure is difficult to calculate. Including spouses and employees laid off from Stillwater-dependent businesses, potential recipients total more than the 700 Stillwater workers who were let go, though Loveridge also said several hundred potential recipients immediately began working after leaving Stillwater and are not in need of financial assistance.
In 2023, Montana mining jobs paid an average salary of $106,000, according to the state labor department. Loveridge identified high wages at Stillwater as a major consideration for the agency’s reemployment efforts.
related
Stillwater mine to cut production, lay off 700 workers as low metal prices drive losses
Sibanye Stillwater, the South African company that operates the nation’s only major palladium mine in south-central Montana, has announced that it plans to lay off about 40% of its Montana workforce as it scales back its operation in an effort to offset losses caused by low metal prices.
“We want to get these people back to where they were before, before the Stillwater mine shut down, back up to that six-figure salary,” Loveridge said. To make up that gap, the Montana labor department’s 20 offices around the state, including temporary locations in both Columbus and Livingston, will focus on workforce development.
“If they need to find training, they’ll find training. If they need to find education, they’ll find that,” Loveridge said. “And then they’ll work with the colleges and those training facilities to figure out how to best pay for it.”
Top-level Montana Republicans claimed responsibility for the federal funding, with a statement from Gov. Gianforte, U.S. Sen. Steve Daines and U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke celebrating the investment.
Even with $3.5 million flowing through Montana’s labor office, Loveridge said the department will continue pursuing the outstanding $8 million they requested in their initial proposal to the federal government.
“That $11.5 million is what we need to be successful in this program,” Loveridge said.
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