Company Overview

North American Palladium Ltd., Canada's only primary producer of palladium, is a growth-oriented precious and base metals mining company. The Company is the owner/operator of the Lac des Iles mine, located 85 kilometers northwest of Thunder Bay, Ontario. The Lac des Iles mine is an open pit operation with a 15,000 tonne per day processing plant; however, in March 2004, a final feasibility study confirmed the economic viability of the Main High Grade Zone located directly underneath the existing open pit, initiating the planning for the underground operations. Construction of the underground mine commenced in May 2004, with commercial production expected at the end of the first quarter of 2006. The integrated production plan for the expanded mine calls for the blending of higher-grade underground ore (6.62 g/t palladium) with that of the open pit (1.80 g/t palladium) for an average palladium grade of 2.33 g/t through the five year underground mine life.

Investment Drivers:

• Canada's only primary producer of palladium.
• Focused management with proven expertise in mine development and operation.
• Aggressive headframe and grassroots exploration program.
• Expected increase in palladium demand - favourable economies for use in catalytic converters due to cost efficiencies.

Exploration:

The exploration team is committed to growing the Company beyond Lac des Iles, as the advancement work on the Offset High Grade Zone continues.  Surface and underground drilling are planned, to expand and upgrade the known resources, as well as preliminary mineralogical and metallurgical testing.

In 2005, North American Palladium signed a letter of intent with Gold Fields Limited to form a joint venture to further explore and develop a mining operation at the Arctic Platinum Project ("APP") located in Finland.  The APP includes several advanced stage PGM projects. Iles or exploration on the other properties.

The other properties the Company is actively working on include: 

a)      Lynn Lake � an Option Joint Venture with Rare Earth Metals, to earn up to 65%, that encompasses five separate mafic-ultramafic bodies from the historically third largest nickel producing region in Canada.

b)      Tyko and Bulldozer Lake � an Option agreement, to earn up to 100%, on a grassroots property that contains several untested copper, nickel and PGM occurrences.

c)      Bird River � an Option Joint Venture agreement with Gossan Resources Ltd., to earn up to 75%, that covers over 21 kilometres of the Bird River Sill Complex.  The principle target is for semi-massive to massive sulphide (nickel, copper and PGM) deposits along the lower contact of the Sill.

Future Growth Strategy:

The Company plans to:

• Continue to build value at Lac des Iles.
• Advance APP to a production decision.
• Pursue the acquisition of top-tier, global PGM/Ni properties.
• Direct exploration and joint ventures in Canadian PGM/Ni mining camps.
• Employ management and operating resources to develop new mines.

 

Click here to download a factsheet on Lac des Iles.

Investor Relations Contact:

Donna Yoshimatsu
Director, Investor Relations
T. 416.360.2652
E. [email protected]

And

Shanda Theaker
Manager, Investor Relations
& Corporate Communications
T. 416.360.2651
E. [email protected]