North American Palladium has announced the installation of a new Metro Superior Mark II primary gyratory crusher.

Commissioned on June 19th, it is now fully operational, and is already having an impact on output.

The company organises its crushing activities 'in house', eschewing contract crushing for reasons of cost and efficiency.

North American Palladium, which operates one of the world's biggest palladium mining sites, is on course to meet production targets this year, especially since the introduction of the new crusher to the production process.

The company's targets for the first half of the year have been met, with 117,860 ounces of palladium produced.

Indeed, the second quarter production targets matched earlier output despite a six-day shutdown while repairs were made to an older crushing machine.

North American Palladium is Canada's only primary producer of platinum group metals and boasts one of the largest open pit bulk mineable palladium reserves in the world.