North American Palladium, the only primary producer of pgm in Canada, has detailed plans to increase operations at its Lac Des Iles mine north of Thunder Bay.

The $50,000,000 expansion will result in an extra 300,000 ounces of palladium being produced every year for seven years.

Work on an underground corridor off the firm's open pit mine, which will allow high grade deposits to be accessed, has already begun, the Thunder Bay Source reports.

North American Palladium general manager Ray Mason explained that around 80 jobs would be added to the current 300 strong workforce.

The firm has already seen its palladium production rise in comparison with figures for 2003, according to the latest figures, with the expansion plans set to build on impressive quarterly performance.

The Canadian-based firm delivered a second quarter report last month which showed that palladium production stood at 75,970 ounces -a significant increase on the 69,069 ounces produced in the same quarter the year before.

In total the mill processed 1,445,445 tonnes of ore at an average of 15,884 tonnes per day, with a palladium head grade of 2.22 grams per tonne.