A worker died Saturday morning in an electrical incident underground at the Stillwater mine near Columbus.
“The [federal] Mine Safety and Health Administration has been up at this site since Saturday and they’re investigating along with our internal team,” said mine spokesperson Heather McDowell in an interview with Montana Free Press on Monday. The mine’s owner, Sibanye-Stillwater, has indefinitely halted operations at the site.
McDowell declined to offer additional details about the investigation, individual or incident.
“Our hearts are with the family here and with the team at our worksite,” McDowell said.
Sibanye-Stillwater sent a counselor to the mine on Saturday to help other workers impacted by the death.
This is the fourth fatality at the Stillwater mine in four years, including a 2023 machinery accident and a 2021 underground collision.
Citing the declining cost of palladium, the mine’s major resource alongside platinum, Stillwater cut production and laid off 700 workers in September 2024. Last December, Montana’s Department of Labor and Industry received a $3.5 million federal grant to assist the recently unemployed.
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