Mining has helped shape Montana's history, from the early gold rushes of the 1860s to today's large open-pit metal mines and coal operations.

Today, Montana remains an important producer of coal, copper-molybdenum concentrates, palladium and platinum, talc, and construction materials like sand, gravel, and crushed stone.

Montana's mining industry today

Montana is the nation's only primary producer of palladium and platinum, mined in the Stillwater and East Boulder operations west of Billings.

Large copper-molybdenum mines, including the Continental Pit at Butte, produce copper concentrates that also contain gold and silver as valuable byproducts.

Nonfuel mineral production in Montana-metals plus industrial minerals-adds up to roughly a billion dollars in value each year as part of the national nonfuel minerals sector, which reached about 105-106 billion dollars in 2023-2024.

Coal: Big tons, changing times

Montana's coal mines are mostly big surface mines in the Powder River Basin and other eastern fields, where thick, low-sulfur coal seams lie close to the surface.

In 2023 Montana mines produced about 29.1 million short tons of coal, followed by about 27.0 million short tons in 2024, a drop from more than 38 million tons in 2018 as many power plants across the U.S. burn less coal.

Even with lower annual production, Montana and neighboring Wyoming still hold enormous coal reserves-part of an estimated 108 billion short tons of recoverable coal in the Powder River Basin, enough to last for many decades at current usage rates.

Jobs and Montana's economy

Mining directly employs thousands of Montanans in jobs such as equipment operators, mechanics, engineers, surveyors, geologists, and environmental scientists.

These jobs pay well-recent data show that mining-related workers in Montana often earn annual incomes well above many service-sector jobs in the state.

When you add in all the other businesses that serve mines-like railroads, fuel suppliers, equipment shops, and local stores-mining generates several billion dollars in economic activity for Montana each year.

In the past, some Montana mines-especially older hard-rock mines around Butte-left behind waste rock, acidic water, and heavy-metal pollution, which later became part of large Superfund cleanup projects.

Today, active mines must follow strict state and federal rules, post reclamation bonds, and design detailed plans to protect water, control dust, and restore the land when mining is finished.

Reclamation work includes reshaping landforms, replacing topsoil, planting native grasses and shrubs, and monitoring streams and groundwater so that mined areas can be used again by wildlife and people.

Montana mining in the future

As the world moves toward cleaner energy and new technologies, Montana's metal mines may play a bigger role in supplying copper and platinum-group metals used in electric vehicles, batteries, and pollution-control devices.

At the same time, the amount of coal mined will depend on how quickly power plants switch to other energy sources and how energy policies change in the coming years.

For Montana, the challenge is to keep mining jobs and mineral production strong while also repairing past damage and protecting land, water, wildlife, and communities for future generations.