Profile: Stillwater Mining Company (SWC.N)

Stillwater Mining Company, incorporated in 1992, is engaged in the development, extraction, processing, refining and marketing of palladium, platinum and associated metals from a geological formation in south central Montana known as the J-M Reef and from the recycling of spent catalytic converters. The Company conducts mining operations at the Stillwater Mine near Nye, Montana and at the East Boulder Mine near Big Timber, Montana. Both mines are located on the J-M Reef. The Company operates concentrating plants at each mining operation to upgrade mined production to a concentrate form. The Company operates a smelter and base metal refinery at Columbus, Montana at which it further upgrades the mined concentrates into a PGM-rich filter cake. During the year ended December 31, 2008, the Company had proven and probable ore reserves of approximately 38.2 million tons with an average grade of 0.54 ounce of platinum group metals (PGMs) per ton.

During 2008, the Company’s total proven palladium and platinum ore reserves were five million tons at an average grade of 0.57 ounce per ton, containing 2.8 million ounces of palladium and platinum. In 2008, the Company’s total probable palladium and platinum ore reserves were at 33.2 million tons at an average grade of 0.53 ounce per ton, containing 17.6 million ounces of palladium and platinum.

Stillwater Mine

The Company conducts the underground mining operations at its wholly owned Stillwater Mine, near Nye, Montana. The Stillwater Mine facility accesses, extracts and processes PGM ores from the eastern portion of the J-M Reef using mine openings located in the Stillwater Valley. In addition, the Company owns and maintains ancillary buildings that contain the concentrator, shop and warehouse, changing facilities, headframe, hoist house, paste plant, water treatment, storage facilities and office. All surface structures and tailings management facilities are located within the 2,450 acre Stillwater Mine Operating Permit area. Ore reserves developed at the Stillwater Mine are controlled by mining claims either leased or owned outright by the Company. The mine is located approximately 85 miles southwest of Billings, Montana.

The Stillwater Mine accesses and has developed a 5.9-mile-long underground segment of the J-M Reef, between the elevations of 2,000 and 7,300 feet above sea level. Access to the ore at the Stillwater Mine is accomplished by means of a 1,950-foot vertical shaft and by a system of horizontal adits and drifts driven parallel to the strike of the J-M Reef at vertical intervals of between 150 feet and 300 feet. Seven main adits have been driven from surface portals on the west and east slopes of the Stillwater Valley at various elevations between 5,000 and 5,900 feet above sea level. Several additional principal levels have been developed below the 5,000-foot level down to the 3,200-foot elevation, accessed from a vertical shaft and the associated shaft ramp system. The Company is continuing to develop a decline system below the 3,200-foot elevation to access and develop deeper areas in the central part of the mine below those serviced by the existing shaft.

The Stillwater Mine uses its 29 footwall lateral drifts and six primary ramps and vertical excavations to provide personnel and equipment access, supply haulage and drainage, intake and exhaust ventilation systems, muck haulage, backfill plant access, powder storage and/or emergency egress. The footwall lateral and primary ramp systems would continue to provide support for production and ongoing development activities.

The Company processes ore from the Stillwater Mine through a concentrator facility (mill) adjacent to the Stillwater Mine shaft. The mill has a permitted design capacity of 3,000 tons per day. The mill has a permitted design capacity of 3,000 tons per day. During 2008, 1,885 tons of ore and 212 tons of sub-grade material were processed through the mill per calendar day. In addition, on average the mill processed 101 tons per calendar day of smelter slag. Crushed ore is fed into the concentrator, mixed with water and ground to slurry in the concentrator’s mill circuit to liberate the PGM-bearing sulfide minerals from the rock matrix. During 2008, the Stillwater Mine produced 349,400 ounces of palladium and platinum.

East Boulder Mine

The East Boulder Mine is located in Sweet Grass County, Montana, approximately 32 miles southeast of the town of Big Timber. East Boulder is permitted independently of the Stillwater Mine and includes a second distinct mining operation accessing the western portion of the J-M Reef. The mine consists of underground mine development and surface support facilities, including a concentrator, shop and warehouse, changing facilities, storage facilities, office and tailings management facility. All mine facilities are wholly owned and operated by the Company. Surface facilities for the East Boulder Mine are situated on mill site claims maintained on federal lands located within the Gallatin National Forest and administered by the United States Forest Service. All surface facilities, including the tailings management complex, are located within a 977-acre operating permit area. During 2008, the East Boulder Mine produced 149,500 ounces of palladium and platinum.

Metallurgical Complex

The Company owns a smelter facility and associated real estate located in Columbus, Montana. The smelter facility consists of an electric furnace, two top blown rotary converters (TBRC’s), a matte granulator and gas handling and solution regeneration systems. The smelter’s capacity is approximately 120 tons of total feed per day. Concentrates from the mine sites are transported to the smelter, dried, and fed into a five-megawatt electric furnace, where the concentrates normally are commingled with spent auto catalyst material from the Company’s recycling segment. The Company’s base metal refinery is located on property the Company owns adjacent to the smelter in Columbus, Montana. The base metal refinery produces a palladium, platinum and rhodium-rich filter cake, which also contains minor amounts of gold and silver.

Other Properties

The Company owns a 17,600 square foot ware house facility and leases 10,100 square feet of office space in buildings in Columbus, Montana and 11,000 square feet of office space in Billings, Montana. The Company also owns parcels of rural land in Stillwater and Sweet Grass Counties, Montana, near its mine sites totaling approximately 3,364 acres and additional properties in the communities of Columbus and Big Timber, Montana, which are used as support facilities.