Palladium production up 22% at NAP

Canadian miner North American Palladium (NAP) has announced that its Lac des Iles mill produced 22 per cent more palladium in the second quarter of 2006, compared to the previous quarter’s figure.

It produced 57,326oz of palladium at the mill, compared with 47,015oz produced in the previous quarter of this year and 48,230oz produced in the second quarter of 2005.

The second quarter of 2006 marked the first complete quarter of production from the underground mine, which began full production at the start of April.

The underground operation contributed significantly to the increase in average mill feed grade of 2.22 g/t palladium in the second quarter compared to 1.79 g/t in the first quarter and 1.78 g/t in the comparable quarter last year.

For the month of June 2006, the monthly average mill feed grade was in line with expectations at 2.36 g/t palladium.

Platinum production, which is produced as a by-product metal, totalled 5,487oz – up from the 4,698oz produced in the first quarter.

Palladium production for the first six months of 2006 of 104,341oz was slightly higher than the 100,802oz produced in the same period last year.

The average recovery rate also improved marginally at 72.9 per cent, compared to the previous figure of 72.2 per cent in 2005.

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