Norilsk Nickel revealed that palladium and platinum production fell in the first quarter of 2008.

Production of platinum was 138,000 oz in the first quarter, a drop from the 169,000 ounces of platinum in the first quarter of last year.

Palladium production fell by 16.6 per cent in the first quarter of 2008 with the firm blaming harsh weather in the Arctic region.

About 590,000 oz of palladium were produced in the first quarter - a reduction form the 716,000 oz produced in the same quarter of 2007.

"Extraordinary winter weather conditions on the Taimyr peninsula impeded the timely dispatch of cuprous ore from the Komsomolsky mine to the Norilsk concentrator," a statement read.

"In addition, refining of precious metals at the Krasnoyarsk Precious Metals Plant was lower than planned due to delays in air deliveries of PGM concentrates from Norilsk to Krasnoyarsk," the statement added.

The world's largest palladium and nickel miner did not change its production forecasts for the remainder of 2008.

The production volumes did not include figures from the Stillwater Mining Company.

Source:

MMC Norilsk Nickel announces preliminary consolidated production results for 1st quarter 2008, 30/04/08
http://www.nornik.ru/_upload/editor_files/file0984.pdf

Norilsk Q1 nickel output rises, palladium falls, 30/04/08
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSL3069835520080430?sp=true