Toronto-headquartered North American Palladium produced a total of 237 461 oz of payable palladium in 2018, meeting the upper half of its 2018 guidance of between 230 000 oz and 240 000 oz.

The 2018 production is also an increase of 18% on the 201 592 oz of palladium produced in 2017.

Fourth-quarter production reached 65 904 oz, compared with 58 000 oz in the preceding quarter.

The average daily underground production rate was just over 6 260 t/d during 2018, compared with 5 198 t/d in 2017, including an average of 6 720 t/d in the fourth quarter of 2018 – the highest quarterly production rate since underground operations began in 2006.

“2018 was another year of steady growth and strong operational and safety performance for the Lac des Iles mine. Our team has worked hard to safely deliver increased production throughout the year, reaching the upper range of our production guidance,” North American Palladium president and CEO Jim Gallagher commented in a statement on Monday.

Key accomplishments for the year included the Lac des Iles mine, in Ontario, achieving a lost time injury free year and, as of January 28, 2019, 478 days without a lost time accident. There was a further reduction in the total reportable injury frequency from 2.7 in 2017 to 2.2 in 2018.

The company also completed the Sherriff pit with a total of 696 333 t mined in 2018 at 1.6 g/t of palladium.

It also undertook the building and commissioning of a tailings thickener, which it anticipates will improve tailings management and reduce water consumption.

Lastly, it commissioned a new, high-capacity underground dewatering system.

2019 OUTLOOK

For this year, operations will be focused on the expansion of the underground mine to 12 000 t/d by 2021, in accordance with a feasibility study published in October 2018.

2019 underground production is expected to rise to 7 500 t/d by year-end as the underground mine expands into lower grade material in the upper part of the mine.

Palladium production in 2019 is set to remain on par with 2018.

In 2019, the company expects production of between 220 000 oz and 235 000 oz of payable palladium.

The average head grade is predicted to drop slightly in 2019, primarily owing to the completion of the Sheriff pit and the subsequent increased processing of low-grade ore from the surface stockpile.