Stillwater Mining Company

Sulfidic serpentintite platinum-palladium ore, Stillwater Mine. This ore sample grades to around 2.5 ounces of Pd-Pt per ton of rock, with a Pd-Pt ratio of about 3:1.

Stillwater Mining Company (NYSE: SWC) is a palladium and platinum mining company with headquarters located at Billings, Montana, United States. It is the only palladium and platinum producer in the USA.[1] The only other North America based palladium/platinum producer is North American Palladium, located in Canada. As of 2015, the current President and Chief Executive Officer is Mick McMullen.[2]

In December 2010, the Company acquired Marathon PGM Corporation.[3] It was renamed Stillwater Canada.[4][5]

Processing Mined Material

Stillwater Mining Company is engaged in the development, extraction, processing, refining and marketing of palladium, platinum and associated metals (platinum group metals or PGMs) from a geological formation in the Stillwater igneous complex in south central Montana known as the J-M Reef and from the recycling of spent catalytic converters. The J-M Reef is the only known significant source of platinum group metals inside the United States and one of the significant resources outside South Africa and Russia. Associated by-product metals at the Company’s operations include minor amounts of gold, silver, nickel and copper. The J-M Reef is a narrow but extensive mineralized zone containing PGMs, which has been traced over a strike length of approximately 28 miles (45 km).

The company conducts mining operations at the Stillwater Mine near Nye, Montana and at the East Boulder Mine near Big Timber, Montana. Both mines are located on the J-M Reef. The company operates concentrating plants at each mining operation to upgrade mined production to a concentrate form. The company operates a smelter and base metal refinery at Columbus, Montana at which it further purifies the mined production to a PGM-rich filter cake. The filter cake is shipped to third-party custom refiners for final refining before being sold.

The company recycles spent catalyst material to recover PGMs at the smelter and refinery. The company has a longterm catalyst sourcing agreement and spot contracts with other suppliers who ship spent catalysts to the company for processing to recover PGMs. The company smelts and refines the spent catalysts by the same process as the mined production is purified.

Business

Norilsk Nickel had bought a 51% stake in Stillwater in 2003, but in November 2010 Norilsk Nickel announced plans to sell this stake.[6]

Controversies

In 2002, two class action suits were filed against the company, wherein stakeholders claimed that the Stillwater was artificially inflating the price of its securities.[7] On Nov 1, 2004, Stillwater Mining restated its third quarter results, during which payment for debt issuance costs was $3.8 million, not a receipt of $0.8 million as originally reported.[8]

In 2006, a group of shareholders won a $2.6 million settlement against the company for "misleading statements about the company's financial performance" and its ore reserves.[9]

References

  1. ↑ Stillwater Mining or North American Palladium: Which is the Better Investment? - Seeking Alpha
  2. ↑ Stillwater Mining Companay - Board of Directors Accessed 10 June 2015.
  3. ↑ Google Finance
  4. ↑ Federal environment agency assessing Ontario copper, platinum mine
  5. ↑ Stillwater Canada
  6. ↑ "Mining Journal - Norilsk selling Stillwater". Retrieved 2010-11-30.
  7. ↑ Burkhart, Dan (April 12, 2002). "Two class action lawsuits filed against Stillwater Mining". Billings Gazette.
  8. ↑ "Stillwater Mining Announces Amendment to 2004 Third Quarter Results".
  9. ↑ Falstad, Jan (December 11, 2007). "Stillwater investors prevail in lawsuit". Billings Gazette.

External links

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