Sibanye-Stillwater has ended strike action at its Stillwater East mine and Columbus metallurgical facility in Montana after workers ratified a new wage agreement with the United Steelworkers union.
The company said its workforce had ratified a new collective bargaining agreement with the United Steel Workers International Union at the mine and metallurgical facility, effective retroactively from June 1 to end-May 2029. The deal includes a wage increase of 4.5% in year one, the greater of 3.5% or consumer price index in year two, and the greater of 3.0% or CPI in year three of the agreement.
Sibanye said the ratification brings to a close the strike notice and strike action since September 3 2026, with employees expected to resume duties on day shift on October 9 2026, a Friday.
The resolution follows a separate deal reached the previous week at the company's East Boulder mine, also in Montana. Sibanye confirmed on September 30 that its workforce had ratified a new collective bargaining agreement at East Boulder, effective retroactively from August 1 this year to July 31, 2029, on near-identical wage terms. At that point strike action at Stillwater East and Columbus was still ongoing, and the company said it remained "committed to constructive engagement to reach an agreement" on those sites.
With the Stillwater East and Columbus ratification, Sibanye now has new multi-year labor agreements covering all three of its US PGM sites. The company described the deals as supporting its move toward fully mechanized mining and a shift from legacy incentive structures to team-based incentives at the US operations.
Sibanye owns and operates the Stillwater and East Boulder underground mines together with the Columbus metallurgical complex in Montana. The end of the Stillwater East and Columbus strike removes an operational uncertainty that had affected part of the company's US PGM output since early September.
The settlement comes as platinum continues to trade well below its January 2026 record. Platinum changed hands around $1,696/oz on October 6, 2026, according to Kitco spot pricing, down $16 on the day.
For background on the company's production base and the platinum market more broadly, see DailyPlatinum's pages on Sibanye-Stillwater, live platinum prices, the platinum price chart, and the PGM market overview.
Sources