Chevron, Manville become joint owners of Stillwater mine

The Stillwater platinum- palladium mine in Montana now has two owners. The board of directors of Manville Sales Corp. has approved a deal whereby Manville and Chevron Resources will purchase the one-third interest of LAC Minerals (TSE) for $48 million(C).

Manville and Chevron, which operates the mine, will become joint (50/50) owners of the project located about 80 miles southwest of Billings.

The Stillwater operation is the only platinum-palladium mine in North America. (In Canada, platinum is produced as a byproduct of nickel-copper mining operations.) LAC bought into the project in 1985, when it purchased the interest of now defunct Anaconda Minerals. Manville geologists are credited with uncovering the deposit in the early 1970s.

The current ore production rate is 700 tons per day, which is yielding the partners about 37,000 oz platinum and 126,000 oz palladium annually. The mine was placed in production in March, 1987. Plans are in the works to boost the production rate to 1,000 tons per day. The estimated mine life at current production levels is 50 years.