Lac des Iles Mine to expand: new mineral reserves will mean longer mine life for North American Palladium.

• Position: MINING

Years of exploration in and around the Lac des lies mine site is now bearing fruit for North American Palladium (NAP) in northwestern Ontario.

The Toronto-headquartered miner is reporting a massive update in its mineral reserves and resources estimates for the operation located 90 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay.

The company reports an increase of 18 million tonnes to 38.5 million tonnes in the reserves at an average grade of 2.25 grams per tonne (g/t) palladium for a total of 2.78 million ounces of contained palladium.

The underground reserves have been boosted by 13 million tonnes to 21.2 million tonnes, with an average grade of 3.09 g/t, including an increase of 10.6 million tonnes in the Offset Zone reserves.

Much of that tonnage was discovered between the 905-metre level and the 1300-metre level of the Lower Offset Zone.

The amount of surface reserves for its Roby and Sheriff open pits have increased by 11.1 million tonnes to 12.1 million tonnes at an average grade of 1.32 g/t.

In a May 29 news release, the company said based on the new estimates and new feasibility study would be published in June and a new mine plan is in making featuring a return to full-time mill operation, expansion of underground mining in its Offset Zone and a resumption of open-pit mining operations.

The new mine plan features a return to full-time mill operations, expansion of underground bulk mining on the Offset Zone and a resumption of open-pit mining operations.

The company said these developments will reduce unit costs of production and, combined with strong current and forward-looking metal prices, will allow North American Palladium to extract a higher proportion of the known mineral inventory at lower mining cutoff grades.

The company is also employing a new mining method to boost production levels by transitioning from large open stope blast hole mining to sub-level shrinkage (SLS), a variation of sub-level cave mining where waste fill will be introduced to the top of the cave.

In a statement, NAP...