Encourage Action to Protect Montana Mines Against Illegal Russian Dumping
U.S. SENATE – U.S. Senators Steve Daines and Tim Sheehy, along with Congressmen Troy Downing (MT-02) and Ryan Zinke (MT-01) today sent a letter to President Trump thanking him for his support for Made-In-America energy and highlighting the importance of continued operation at Montana’s Sibanye-Stillwater Mine.
“Montana is home to an abundance of critical minerals, notably in the Stillwater mining district. The Stillwater and East Boulder Mines, owned and operated by Sibanye-Stillwater, produce Platinum Group Metals and are the only primary producer of platinum and palladium in the United States. The company is also one of the largest global recyclers of platinum, palladium, and rhodium and both the mined and recycled metals are fully refined in the United States.
“These mines are vital to the local economy, providing over a thousand high paying jobs while strengthening America’s national security interests. Unfortunately, the prior administration refused to take action on Russia’s illegal dumping of palladium that has resulted in the price of palladium to plummet and continued to allow the unrestricted import of these critical minerals from Russia. As a result, over 600 Montana miners mining and metals processing workers were laid off at the Stillwater mine and the U.S. is now more dependent of foreign sources of platinum and palladium. To help address this we introduced the bipartisan bill, S. 808 Stop Russian Market Manipulation Act, to ban the import of critical minerals from Russia including platinum, palladium, and copper to ensure that our American mines are put first. However, we believe that you can take action now to support jobs and domestic mining and refining,” they wrote in the letter.
Read the full letter HERE.
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Contact: Matt Lloyd, Gabby Wiggins