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Stillwater Mine Workers to Receive Pay Hike Under New Owners

Workers in Nye and Columbus will get a 5 percent wage hike over the next two years

By Tristan Scott

BILLINGS, Mont. — Union and company officials say 760 workers of the Stillwater Mining Co. will receive a pay raise in a deal with Stillwater’s new owners.

The Billings Gazette reports the workers in Nye and Columbus will get a 5 percent wage hike over the next two years.

Steelworkers’ Local 11-0001 president Scott McGinnis says the union got what it could and believes it’s a fair settlement. He says it was overwhelmingly approved by the union miners, and negotiations will now begin for workers at another mine in East Boulder.

The raise comes as precious metals prices improve and more than a month after South Africa-based Sibanye Gold Limited completed its $2.2 billion purchase of Stillwater.

Stillwater is the only U.S. producer of platinum and palladium, which is used in catalytic converters and in jewelry.