North American Palladium (NAP) is hoping to produce 250,000 oz of palladium per year in the future, officials have confirmed.

The company has now reopened its Lac des Ile mine, having temporarily closed it in October 2008 as a result of declining palladium prices.

Exploration work continued during the intervening period and a new ore body, known as the Offset Zone, has been discovered at the site 100km north-west of Thunder Bay.

Chief Executive William Biggar explained that the new deposits - combined with emerging mining technologies - could see the life of mine extended by another ten years.

However, in order to make the Offset Zone profitable, NAP will need to adopt a new shaft system involving a footwall ramp, production shaft and ventilation raise.

The approach, which is being subbed 'super shrinkage mining', will see a shaft drilled to the surface from more than 4,000ft down to facilitate further commercial palladium production.

"We need the shaft system because it isn't economically feasible to keep digging deeper into the pit," John Caldbrick, General Manager of Lac des Iles, told the Chronicle Journal.

"The super shrinkage system will allow [NAP] to reach the ore while minimising costs."

Production at the Roby underground deposit at the Lac des Iles mine restarted in April 2010.

Source:

Lac des Iles mine digs deep (14/10/10)

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