North American Palladium Provides Update on Mine Expansion Plan for LDI

North American Palladium Ltd. (TSX:PDL,NYSE:PAL) reported a technical update on its mine expansion plan for the Lac des Iles palladium mine.

As quoted in the press release,

The expansion of LDI, which commenced in early 2010, was embarked upon to access the underground Offset Zone that currently contains an estimated total measured and indicated mineral resource of 2.5 million ounces of palladium. The expansion consists of installing a shaft (with a nameplate capacity of 7,000 tonnes per day), extending the ramp from the Roby Zone to the Offset Zone (to a depth of 1,380 metres), as well as all the necessary development work on surface and underground.

North American’s President and CEO said,

With much of the surface infrastructure development nearing completion, and the mobilization of our shaft sinking contractor, we are on target to complete the first phase of the mine expansion in the fourth quarter of next year when the shaft will begin operating at a rate of 3,500 tonnes per day. This will allow us to gradually increase our production to the rate of 5,500 tonnes per day by 2015, at which point our production should increase to over 250,000 ounces per year at much lower cash costs, attributable to the higher volumes mined and the benefits of the developed infrastructure.

Click here for the North American Palladium Ltd. (TSX:PDL,NYSE:PAL) press release.