Lac des les nearer capacity

With the a contract crushing facility up and running and a new internal grinding liner installed in the semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) mill, North American Palladium (PDL-T) reports improved mill throughput and palladium recoveries at its Lac des les mine in northern Ontario.

During the first three months of 2002, the new 15,000-tonne-per-day mill processed more than 1.2 million tonnes of ore, or 13,391 tonnes per day (an improvement of 7.4% over the final quarter of 2001) with a palladium head grade of 1.91 grams per tonne to produce 53,922 oz. of palladium. Recovery rates hit 73%, 3.7% better than the last three months of 2001.

During the latest quarter, the mine also produced 4,656 oz. platinum, 3,668 oz. gold, 528 tonnes copper and 302 tonnes nickel.

By comparison, during the fourth quarter of 2001, the mill processed more than 1.1 million tonnes of ore running 2 grams palladium per tonne, from which 51,475 oz. palladium were produced. The mine also churned out 4,238 oz. platinum, 3,817 oz. gold, 540 tonnes copper and 274 tonnes nickel.

The contract crushing facility, which was commissioned in the fourth quarter of 2001, supplies fine ore for blending with coarser ore, which has helped to increase the efficiency of the SAG mill.

NAP has also reconfigured the flotation process to simplify the cleaning circuit. The flotation circuit in the old mill has been connected to the new mill further increasing the cleaning capacity. Other modifications have improved the application of reagents into the circuit. Also operator training has added to efficiency.

In the end, the modifications improved concentrate grades during the recent quarter to 249.8 grams palladium per tonne, up from 198.9 grams in the fourth quarter of 2001.

Several engineering studies designed to optimize SAG mill throughput are slated to wrap up in the second quarter. NAP is also, with the help of Lakefield Research, continuing to modify the flotation circuit to further improve palladium recovery.

During 2001, North American Palladium posted net income of $7.5 million (15 per share) on revenue of $121.5 million, compared with 2000 earnings of $61.5 million ($2 per share) on revenue of $109.5 million.