Tester Stands Up for Montanans at Stillwater Mine, Introduces Bill Banning Russian Palladium Importation

Continuing support for Montana’s mining industry, Senator pushes to protect Montana jobs, promote American manufacturing and production

As part of his continued work to defend good-paying Montana jobs, U.S. Senator Jon Tester introduced a bill to ban Russian importation of palladium. This comes following the announcement from Sibanye-Stillwater that they will undergo a restructuring that includes layoffs at its Montana operations.

“It is totally unacceptable that Montanans are losing their jobs because Russia is dumping critical minerals into the American market to strangle our local operations,” said Tester. “When I heard that Sibanye-Stillwater was laying off hundreds of hardworking Montana miners because of this Russian activity, I reached out to local officials and the workforce to team up and immediately introduce our bill to ban the importation of Russian palladium. This has gone on for far too long, and I will continue to stand with the Montanans who are being targeted by this unfair trade practice.”

Tester has long fought to rebuild domestic manufacturing and onshore supply chains to reduce America’s dependence on foreign adversaries like China and Russia. In February, Tester sent a letter to Department of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen expressing concerns that domestic critical mineral production at places like Sibanye-Stillwater was being curbed by reliance on foreign adversaries like China.

Within hours of Sibanye-Stillwater’s announcement, Tester personally spoke with Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyamo pressing him on the need for the Biden Administration to support the impacted workers.

Watch Tester’s full statement on the Sibanye-Stillwater mine layoffs HERE.

Read the text of Tester’s bill HERE.