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…