The deputy chairman of Norilsk Nickel has promised to provide regular supplies of palladium and maintain a smooth market in the metal.

According to MineWeb, Leonid Rozhetskin also told delegates at the BMO Nesbitt Burns 2004 Global Resources Conference in Florida that Norilsk would no longer stockpile the metal.

The Russian mining company, which acquired Stillwater Mining last year, is to sell-off its remaining palladium stores later this year.

Mr Rozhetskin explained that Norilsk's purchase of Stillwater Mining was intended to boost confidence in the palladium market.

'The message that we have consistently been delivering to the market over two years, and which we intended to underscore with the Stillwater acquisition, was that supplies of palladium to the North American and world markets would never again be interrupted,' he stated.

'The history of holding back [palladium] is just that; history. In 2003 we sold all of our current year production. We have contracts in place today to sell all of our 2004 production, and we may, toward the end of this year, sell palladium from our inventory.'

Johnson Matthey estimates Norilsk Nickel sold 2.95 million ounces of palladium in 2003.