Stillwater Mine is the only known significant domestic source of platinum and palladium in the US. Located near Nye, Montana, the mine, along with its sister mine – East Boulder Mine, extract ore underground from a geological formation known as the J-M Reef. Millions of years ago molten rock filled up cracks and voids in existing rocks in an area that later became south-central Montana. As the molten rock filled up the voids in overlaying rock, heavy metals settled out to the bottom of the seam leaving a rich deposit of heavy metal ore known as “Platinum Group Metals” or PGMs.
The PGMs mined by Stillwater produce platinum and palladium primarily, with smaller amounts of gold, silver, copper and nickel. “Most of what we mine goes towards catalytic converters in cars and pickups,” explains Randy Weimer, Environmental Manager for Stillwater Mine. “Platinum, and to a certain degree, palladium, are the key catalyst in today’s emission control devices. Demand is fairly steady although it does react to the demand for new vehicles.”
The Stillwater Mine opened in 1986 with the East Boulder Mine in 2001. Both mine the same narrow vein of ore, which, on average is only about 6’ thick. Due to geological upheaval in the area over time, the vein is not horizontal but has been uplifted by the formation of the Beartooth Mountains and mining is done at a steep angle to follow the course of the vein deep underground.
Finding workers that are comfortable working thousands of feet underground in enclosed spaces takes special interviewing techniques. “As part of the interview process we take the applicants inside the mine for an extended tour,” says Weimer. “We’ve found that you can ask questions about working underground but until someone experiences the conditions first-hand, there’s really no way to know how they will react.”
It’s also challenging to find the right equipment to work at the mine. “There are several factors that come into play when sourcing equipment for an underground mining operation like ours,” explains Rob Payne, Mobile and Stationary Maintenance Superintendent. “The biggest challenge for equipment is the size of the mine drifts that we work in. Everything inside the mine has to operate in an area that’s 11’ wide by 12’ high. That’s not a lot of room, and it requires a lot of specialized equipment.”
The second challenging factor for equipment is reliability. “We’re a 24/7 operation,” Payne continues. “With over 500 pieces of mobile equipment at the mine, we really can’t afford to have equipment that doesn’t stand-up. Even though we’ve got 80 mechanics on staff and multiple shops both above and below ground, we wouldn’t be able to effectively operate the mine if we had equipment that was failing. We prefer to spend most of our time on preventative maintenance. We take good care of the equipment, but we expect it to hold-up and work hard when it’s needed.”
One of the most popular pieces of equipment at the mine are the skid steer loaders. “We’ve got about 32 skid steers operating in the mine,” states Payne. “We use them for a multitude of tasks. Our road crews have to maintain 100 miles of roadways and they will use skid steers for some of that work. We’ve got a lot of mobile pumps that we use to dewater different areas of the mine and we move those around with the skids. We use them to move drill rods for the main mining operation itself. Scooping, pick-and-carry work, grading/leveling – these machines do it all. We couldn’t operate without them.”
The majority of the skid steers working at the Stillwater mine are Case large-frame vertical lift skid steers purchased and supported from Titan Machinery. “We’ve had a lot of luck with the vertical lift Case skid steers starting with the 400-series. Now the majority of the skids we have running in the mine are the SV300s. The machines are comfortable to operate and offer good visibility all the way around. Those factors are important when you operate long days in the confined spaces of a mine.”
Other than adding rotating amber lights and fire suppression systems, the Case skid steers that Stillwater runs are the same machines that you can find working on most jobsites around the country. “We don’t do a whole lot with the Case skids that we operate at the mine,” says Payne. “We add some safety systems [amber lights, fire suppression kit] but the machines come to us pretty much ready to go to work. And we work them hard. The skid steers are one of the most widely used mobile machine classes we have at the mine.”
Due to the continuous operation on hard surfaces the mine does go through a lot of tires for skid steers and their other mobile equipment. “We spend six-figures on tires every month. It’s a really hard environment for tires and it’s just one of the costs of doing business when you are operating a “hard-rock mine”.
The mine extends 6, running east-and-west and 1 mile vertically. In order to keep track of the different locations the company developed an address system much like any regular town or city would use. Do to the size of the operation, Payne notes that “we actually have more addresses underground than the nearest town.”
Stillwater operates a concentrating plant at each mine to upgrade the ores and remove the slag materials which are trucked back to the mine for reprocessing. All the water that is used in the mining and refining process at the mines is captured and treated before being released. “The Stillwater River runs through the middle of the property, so we take every precaution to ensure that the quality of the water that leaves our property is the same as when it enters.”
Provided the demand for platinum and palladium stays healthy, there’s enough ore to keep the mines running for many years to come. “We’ve got every reason to be optimistic about the future of our mines,” says Payne. “We’ve got proven deposits, efficient operations, and the equipment and support that we know we can rely on. The service and response we get from Titan Machinery has been exceptional and we look forward to continue using the equipment they and our other suppliers provide us to continue drilling holes in the ground for many years to come.”
“It’s a challenging environment that we work in and it’s not for everybody or every machine. But those of us that work here really enjoy it, and the area that we live in. We’ve found the right machines that work well for us and companies that we can rely on for service and parts support to keep them running. I wouldn’t want to work and live anywhere else.”