Sibanye Stillwater address payroll impacts amid smelter halt after cyber attack

A cyberattack halted some operations at the Sibanye Stillwater mining operations in Montana on Wednesday.

Mine officials told MTN News they're still gathering information about the full reach of the attack. Some computer systems were down in the afternoon, according to Sibanye, but were beginning to come back online.

In a press release provided on Thursday, the mining company said only payroll was impacted by the attack.

An official with the United Steelworkers union said however, smelter operations in Columbus were impacted due to all automated systems not working.

The Columbus facility, which processes recycled mine material, employs several hundred people, and those workers remain on the job, according to the company.

Sibanye Stillwater, which is based in South Africa, owns the Stillwater and East Boulder mines in Montana, along with the Columbus smelter, and is one of the region's largest employers. The company is North America's only producer of platinum and palladium.