In July, 2005, North American Palladium Ltd. (NAP) and URSA Major Minerals Incorporated (URSA) announced that the companies had executed an Option Joint Venture Agreement to develop and explore the Shakespeare nickel-copper-platinum metal deposit and the adjacent Porter Baldwin nickel, copper exploration property in the Sudbury area, Ontario.

On the Shakespeare Property, NAP can acquire a 60% undivided interest in URSA's interest (currently URSA has earned an 80% interest in the property from Falconbridge Limited) in the Shakespeare Property and become the operator by making payments aggregating $1.5 million to URSA and securing the project financing for commercial production. The $1.5 million was applied to the Shakespeare full feasibility program which was completed in January 2006.

In addition, in March 2006, NAP has been granted an option to acquire a 50% undivided interest in URSA's 100% owned, adjoining Porter Baldwin Property by funding $1.0 million of exploration expenditures over a 3-year period. NAP is committed to funding $300,000 in the first twelve months. The Porter Baldwin Property covers over 19,000 acres and extends over 15 km from the Shakespeare deposit towards the Sudbury Intrusive Complex and includes several grass roots Ni-Cu prospects.

The Shakespeare Deposit is hosted by the Shakespeare Intrusive Complex, part of the 2.2 Ga year old Nipissing Gabbro Suite that occurs along the southern margin of the Canadian Shield in central Ontario. The Nipissing Intrusives are known to host or be associated with magmatic and/or hydrothermal related Ni, Cu and PGE prospects of which the Shakespeare Deposit is the most economically significant.

The Shakespeare Intrusive has been interpreted as being a complex, folded, differentiated sill that was intruded into Huronian meta-sediments. It outcrops over a 15 km strike length and is reported to average between 300-400 meters in thickness. The intrusive has been subdivided into a lower, unmineralized assemblage of gabbro and pyroxenite ("Nipissing Phase") and an upper assemblage of quartz +/- biotite gabbro-diorite ("Shakespeare Phase").

In January 2006, URSA released the results from the full feasibility study managed by Micon International Limited (Micon) of Toronto. Micon evaluated a base case of an open-pit mine and 4,500 tonne/day on site concentrator for the Shakespeare project at the feasibility level of accuracy.

The project produces an after tax internal rate of return (IRR) of 14.5% (20.0% pre-tax IRR) on an initial total capital cost of C$118,473,000. Net revenue (NSR) is $44.10/tonne totalling C$495 million for the project. Total operating cost is C$22.55/tonne milled. The undiscounted total annual cash flow is C$84.2 million and the NPV discounted at 10% is C$16.2 million. Nickel, copper, precious metals and cobalt contribute, respectively, 58.7%, 18.5%, 15.3% and 7.5% of gross revenue. The project has a 6.8 year mine production life.

The feasibility study defines a diluted Probable Reserve of 11,266,000 tonnes grading 0.33% nickel, 0.35% copper, 0.02% cobalt, 0.33 g/t platinum, 0.37 g/t palladium and 0.19 g/t gold. The mineral reserve is to a maximum depth of 250 metres below surface and was determined by applying an C$11.75/tonne NSR internal cut-off value which is the sum of the mill processing and G&A costs. The reserve is based on an Indicated Resource (undiluted) of 12,430,000 tonnes grading 0.35% nickel, 0.37% copper, 0.02% cobalt, 0.35 g/t platinum and 0.39 g/t palladium and 0.20 g/t gold. This Indicated Resource is contained within an optimized pit shell with an NSR cut off above C$24.23. An additional Indicated Resource of 1,830,000 tonnes grading 0.37% nickel, 0.41% copper, 0.03 % cobalt, 0.36 g/t platinum, 0.39 g/t palladium and 0.22 g/t gold at an NSR cut off of CDN$50/tonne is located outside of the pit shell.

Mr. T. Hennessey, P.Geo, of Micon was the qualified person for the resource estimate and Mr. Ian Ward, P.Eng. of Micon was the qualified person for the feasibility study.

URSA Major and North American Palladium Ltd. (NAP) will continue advancing permitting of the project and have engaged Golder Associates Ltd. (Golder) to manage the permitting program.

On the 100% Porter Baldwin Property, an exploration program is due to commence early in the summer of 2006.