Name: Lac des Iles (LDI) mine.

Location: The LDI mine property is located about 90 km north-west of Thunder Bay, in Ontario, Canada.

Holding and Controlling Company: The LDI mine is owned and operated by Lac des Iles Mines Limited (LDIM), a wholly owned subsidiary of North American Palladium (NAP).

Brief Description: The LDI property comprises an estimated 86.2 km² of mineral claims and leases. LDIM holds title to the leases and claims.

Brief History: The LDI mine has been in production since 1993, beginning with openpit mining of the Roby zone and adding underground production in 2006 through ramp access to the Roby high-grade zone.

Production was continuous from 1993 until late 2008, when declining metal prices forced NAP to place LDI on care and maintenance. Exploration drilling continued during the shutdown and delineated the first significant underground resource for the Offset zone. The Offset zone is considered an extension of the Roby zone; however, it has been displaced by the major Offset fault.

In 2010, production resumed at LDI and the exploration drilling campaign continued. A major expansion to the underground mine also began in 2010, with a shaft being sunk to access the Offset zone, which was previously deemed to be too deep to be economically mined using the original truck-haulage ramp access. The shaft was completed to the 825 m level and the ore hoisting system commissioned at the end of 2013.
 
Products: Palladium and by-product metals.

Geology/Mineralisation: The LDI mine area is underlain by mafic to ultramafic rocks of the Archean Lac des Iles Intrusive Complex (LDI-IC).

The LDI-IC is the largest of a series of mafic and ultramafic intrusions that occur along the boundary of the Wabigoon-Quetico subprovince and collectively define a circular pattern 30 km in diameter. The LDI mine is situated in the southern portion of the LDI-IC, referred to as the mine block intrusion (MBI).  The MBI hosts several platinum group element (PGE) deposits; of which the Roby zone and Offset zones are defined the best.
 
The resources contained in the Roby and Offset zone deposits have been separated into discrete hanging wall (HW) and footwall (FW) zones.

The Roby zone deposit extends to a minimum depth of 650 m below surface. It includes a thick FW zone in the west (tens to hundreds of
metres wide) and a thinner, 5-m- to 20-m-thick HW zone in the east. The FW zone consists of vari-textured gabbro and local heterolithic gabbro breccia, having typical palladium grades of about 1 g/t to 3 g/t. The HW zone has typical palladium grades of 3 g/t to 10 g/t and is hosted by a sheared, melanocratic norite (pyroxenite).

The Offset zone deposit shows similar grade distributions. The zone is believed to represent the along-strike continuation of the Roby zone deposit, but having been displaced from the latter along the east-striking and north-dipping Offset fault.

The Offset zone deposit remains open toward surface, to the south-east and at depth (greater than 1 500 m below surface). The Offset zone is host to most of the higher-grade palladium resources on the property and is the focus for current underground mine production, development and exploration drilling.

Reserves: Total proven and probable reserves as at January 1, 2015, were estimated at 20.37-million tonnes grading 2.13 g/t palladium, 0.18 g/t platinum, 0.16 g/t gold, 0.08% nickel and 0.05% copper.

Resources: Total measured and indicated resources as at February 2, 2015, were estimated at 71.47-million tonnes grading 1.98 g/t palladium, 0.20 g/t platinum, 0.14 g/t gold, 0.07% nickel and 0.06% nickel. Inferred resources were estimated at 15.04-million tonnes grading 2.67 g/t platinum, 0.20 g/t platinum, 0.17 g/t gold, 0.08% nickel and 0.07% copper.

Mining Method: NAP has transitioned the LDI underground mine from using ramp access to using shaft access while using bulk mining methods. The underground mine is transitioning to a sublevel shrinkage mining method.

Major Infrastructure and Equipment: The mine comprises a main ramp; a shaft; ore and waste handling, and backfilling systems; mine dewatering and ventilation; refuge stations and sanitary facilities; a secondary egress; stockpiles and tailings waste management.

The processing plant, which has a nominal capacity of 15 000 t/d, processes all mill feed produced from the openpit and underground mines. The plant runs on a continuous 365 d/y schedule at 92% availability.

Prospects: There are numerous targets near the LDM, where several recent discoveries could increase palladium production. The exploration potential is further complemented by the existing surface and underground infrastructure and the mill’s excess capacity.

Contact: Investor relations and corporate communications.

Contact Details:
North American Palladium
Tel +1 416 360 7374
Email IR@nap.com