Update on Effort to Ban Russian Palladium, Boost Montana Mine

I'm the type who likes to give credit where credit is due. You'll oftentimes see one of our great radio colleagues put together a really good report, and then a few days later someone else from some other media outlet will just take the same story idea and act like they were the genius who came up with it.

That's why I love giving credit where credit is due. (Plus, isn't that what we are SUPPOSED to do?)

That being said, if you haven't noticed- the Bozeman Daily Chronicle has been making some positive changes and is starting to report some really interesting news of late. Here's another one- ‘Canary in the coal mine': Lawmakers, mining firm want U.S. to ban Russian palladium

In the report, they talk about how Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke (R-MT01) and the Montana Congressional delegation is going to continue pressing for a ban on Russian palladium imports. This, as our own Montana workers were recently laid off at the Stillwater Mine here in Montana.

We got a chance to catch up with Heather McDowell, she is the Senior VP for Legal and External Affairs at the Stillwater Mine (and grew up on a ranch in Bridger and did rodeo in college!). She talked about how the mine has been impacted by a downturn in commodity prices and recently laid off a big chunk of its workforce. McDowell emphasizes the need for a call to action to ban Russian palladium imports. She tells us that Montana Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) is also working on legislation to achieve this, which could help the mine rehire employees and operate more efficiently.

Heather McDowell: "We really need a call to action, because I think we can really shift the paradigm for how we are paid for critical minerals. So there's 50 critical minerals, 50 elements on the periodic table that are deemed critical minerals by the Department of Interior. And platinum and palladium, platinum group metals, PGMS are solidly on that list. Unfortunately, there's only like seven or eight of those 50 actually being produced in the United States."

The palladium from the Stillwater Mine is refined in Columbus, Montana. It is then shipped to Pennsylvania for another step in the refining process.

Heather McDowell: About 45% of the global palladium is coming from Russia. Russia imported to the United States just under a billion dollars worth of palladium. And I talk primarily about about palladium, because we're 78% palladium, 22% platinum, and the palladium price is the thing that's shifted over the years, so that's the variable that matters to us. But we can absolutely do this call to action. Senator Daines is working very hard on a bill to ban Russian palladium. In the last Congress, all four of our Montana delegates actually introduced bills to ban Russian palladium. Obviously, those bills died when that Congress closed, but now Senator Daines is working on this bill, and getting ready to introduce it, and we've talked to our other delegates as well. Palladium is now the single thing of greatest value, at least from the numbers we've seen, coming into the US totally unfettered. "

Here's the full audio of our chat with Heather McDowell (which is very interesting by the way):