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TORONTO,
ONTARIO--(Marketwire - June 25, 2009) - North
American Palladium Ltd. (TSX:PDL)(NYSE Amex:PAL)
is pleased to announce the discovery of a new underground platinum
group minerals (PGM) zone at its Lac des Iles (LDI) mine near Thunder
Bay, Ontario. The new zone, named the Cowboy Zone, was discovered
during infill drilling of the Offset Zone to support a prefeasibility
study that is currently in progress. This new PGM discovery has the
potential to extend the mine life and significantly impact the economics
of the LDI mine.
Mr. William Biggar, President and Chief
Executive Officer said "We are very excited with the discovery of
the Cowboy Zone less than 50 metres away from the Offset Zone, as it
confirms our belief that the underexplored LDI minesite
and 21,000 acre property have considerable upside potential. Dr. Bill
Stone and his exploration team deserve a tremendous amount of credit
for their diligence in this drill program and their interpretation of
historical data. Additional drilling will be conducted over the balance
of the year to determine the magnitude of the resource in the Cowboy
Zone and whether the zone extends to surface."
The Phase 1 (January to June 2009) Offset Zone infill drill program (38
holes for 18,500 metres on cross sections 499N to 504N) and analysis of
historic data led to the discovery of the Cowboy Zone in the footwall
to the Offset Zone. Based on the available assay results (27 holes),
the Cowboy Zone is located 30 to 50 metres down section to the west of
the Offset Zone and extends for up to 250 metres along strike and 350
metres down dip. It remains open in all directions. Similar to the
Offset Zone, the Cowboy Zone appears to consist of several mineralized
subzones. For diagrams showing the position of the Cowboy Zone relative
to the Offset Zone, see www.napalladium.com/operations_mining_cz.htm.
Following completion of the Phase 1 drill program a mineral resource
estimate for the Cowboy Zone is planned for completion in the fourth
quarter of 2009. Meanwhile a Phase 2 underground drill program will
commence in July and finish in December 2009. The primary focus of
Phase 2 (42 holes for 15,000 metres on cross sections 505N to 511N) is
infill drilling of the Offset Zone, but it also includes drilling to
expand the lateral and vertical limits of the Cowboy Zone and test its
orientation, geometry and internal continuity. In addition, a surface
drill program will test whether the Cowboy Zone extends to the surface
in the vicinity of the LDI open pit mine.
The host rocks of the Cowboy Zone are vari-textured
gabbro, pyroxenite
and brecciated gabbro.
Sulphide content averages 1% chalcopyrite (copper sulphide) plus pyrrhotite (iron sulphide), which is significantly
higher than the Offset Zone with the benefit of ready visibility in
drill core. The best composited assay intercepts (Table 1) are 4 metres
@ 5.10 grams per tonne (g/t) palladium (Pd) for hole 09-105 on section
503N, 4 metres @ 3.88 g/t Pd for hole 09-120 on section 502N, and 5
metres @ 4.46 g/t Pd for hole 09-202 on section 501N.
Table 1. Composited assay results for Phase 1 drilling of the Cowboy
Zone, LDI Mine
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Drill Section From To Len- Pd g/t Pt g/t Au g/t Cu% Ni% Co% Hole (m) (m) gth (m)(i) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 09-102 504N 340 345 5 3.26 0.36 0.12 pending pending pending 09-103 504N 387 392 5 3.28 0.36 0.07 0.032 0.073 0.005 09-104 504N 453 460 7 3.22 0.35 0.16 0.049 0.083 0.006 09-105 503N 503 507 4 5.10 0.41 0.19 0.190 0.145 0.010 09-106 503N 535 543 8 4.70 0.36 0.32 0.173 0.135 0.007 09-108 503N 484 492 8 2.37 0.24 0.04 0.016 0.040 0.004 09-112 503N 549 556 7 3.94 0.53 0.15 0.029 0.063 0.005 09-120 502N 511 515 4 3.88 0.47 0.77 0.150 0.141 0.008 09-202 501N 502 508 6 3.57 0.43 0.30 0.192 0.145 0.007 09-202 501N 519 524 5 4.46 0.56 0.46 0.241 0.184 0.008 09-204 501N 506 522 16 3.58 0.37 0.14 0.094 0.119 0.007 incl- uding 501N 507 518 11 4.21 0.43 0.15 0.100 0.131 0.007 09-205 501N 560 568 8 2.42 0.29 0.16 0.076 0.070 0.005 09-209 500N 459 469 10 2.53 0.30 0.27 0.088 0.096 0.006 09-211 500N 578 582 4 3.00 0.30 0.16 0.121 0.117 0.008 09-217 499N 479 489 10 2.33 0.26 0.11 0.060 0.068 0.004 incl- uding 499N 483 488 5 3.05 0.34 0.15 0.081 0.088 0.005 09-218 499N 540 555 15 3.21 0.35 0.15 0.109 0.120 0.006 incl- uding 499N 540 549 9 3.63 0.40 0.14 0.108 0.126 0.006 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Notes: (i)Minimum 4 metre length Hole lengths expected to be within 70-80% of true widths
Until now the LDI mine consisted of
the Roby Zone (open pit and underground) and the underground Offset
Zone. The Roby Zone had been mined continuously since 1993 prior to
being placed on temporary care and maintenance in October 2008 due to
depressed metal prices.
Upon a recovery in metal prices and a resumption of operations, the
Company plans to mine the underground Roby Zone for its remaining two
year life, while at the same time commencing development of the Offset
Zone, which has the potential for up to an additional 10 years of mine
life. The plan would be to start mining the Offset Zone at the
completion of Roby Zone mining. A prefeasibility study is currently
underway on the Offset Zone with results expected to be announced in
the third quarter of this year.
The assaying performed during this drilling campaign was subject to a
formal quality assurance and quality control (QAQC) program. Diamond
drill core is logged and split on site with split samples transported
by the Company to Activation Laboratories Ltd. (Thunder Bay and Ancaster), an independent accredited laboratory,
for assay analysis. Check assay analyses are carried out by SGS
Minerals Services (Toronto), a laboratory that is also independent of
the Company. Ms. Krista Nelson, P.Geo, a geologist
employed by North American Palladium, is the Qualified Person who
supervises the QAQC work carried out for the LDI drill programs. The
design and execution of this drilling program was done by the Company's
exploration team under the supervision of Dr. Bill Stone, P.Geo, a Qualified Person,
who has reviewed and approved the contents of this news release.
About North American Palladium
North American Palladium is a precious metals company that owns and
operates the LDI mine, which produced platinum group metals for 15
years until October 2008 when it was placed on temporary care and
maintenance due to low metal prices. Prior to the temporary shutdown,
the mine had annual production of 270,000 ounces of palladium, 20,000
ounces of platinum and 20,000 ounces of gold. The Company also owns and
operates the Sleeping Giant gold mine located in the Abitibi region of
Quebec, which produced over 1 million ounces of gold from 1988-2008 at
an average grade of 11.44 g/t. North American Palladium expects gold
production to resume in the fourth quarter of 2009 at an annual rate of
50,000 ounces. North American Palladium benefits from operating in a
politically stable jurisdiction with developed infrastructure and a
history of innovation and excellence in mining. Please visit www.napalladium.com for more information.
Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information
Certain information included in this press release, including any
information as to our future financial or operating performance and
other statements that express management's expectations or estimates of
future performance, constitute 'forward-looking statements' within the
meaning of the 'safe harbor' provisions of
the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and
Canadian securities laws. The words 'expect', 'believe', 'will',
'intend', 'estimate' and similar expressions identify forward-looking
statements. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a
number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable
by management, are inherently subject to significant business, economic
and competitive uncertainties, risks and contingencies. The Company
cautions the reader that such forward-looking statements involve known
and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the
actual financial results, performance or achievements of North American
Palladium to be materially different from the Company's estimated
future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by
those forward-looking statements and that the forward-looking
statements are not guarantees of future performance. These statements
are also based on certain factors and assumptions. For more details on
these estimates, risks, assumptions and factors, see the Company's most
recent Form 40-F/Annual Information Form on file with the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission and Canadian provincial securities
regulatory authorities. In addition, there can be no assurance that the
Company's Lac des Iles or Sleeping Giant mines will be successfully
restarted or that other properties can be successfully developed. The
Company disclaims any obligation to update or revise any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
events or otherwise, except as expressly required by law. Readers are
cautioned not to put undue reliance on these forward-looking
statements.
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