Tharisa maintains strong production output

Tharisa, the platinum group metals (PGMs) and chrome co-producer dual-listed on the Johannesburg and London stock exchanges, has announced strong mining and milling throughput leading to:

• PGM production at 42.1 koz (Q2 FY2022 44.1 koz), at a normalised rougher feed grade of 1.65 g/t (Q2 FY2022 1.74 g/t) with steady recoveries at 75.6% (Q2 FY2022 75.4%)
• Chrome production at 389.7 kt up from the previous quarter (Q2 FY2022 374.9 kt)
• Vulcan Plant ramp up reflected in steady improvement in chrome recoveries – throughput recoveries of 80% expected to be reached by year end
• Strong commodity prices and steady production during the quarter delivering strong cash balance increases
• PGM basket price of US$2 677/oz (Q2 FY2022 US$2 806/oz) down 4.6%
• Metallurgical grade chrome price up 39.5% at US$247/t (Q2 FY2022 US$177/t)
• Cash balance of US$112.6 million and a positive net cash position of US$48.0 million
• Successful registration of solar power project for 40-megawatt peak (‘MWp’) with environmental and development authority to further de-risk the operations from the dependence on the national power grid and reduce carbon emissions in line with our carbon reduction strategy
• Growth strategy remains firmly on track

Phoevos Pouroulis, CEO of Tharisa, commented: “The team at Tharisa has completed a commendable quarter, maintaining strong production output which, supported by the favourable commodity markets, ensures a healthy balance sheet that will allow us to continue implementing our strategy.

The global macrotrends are challenging but Tharisa Mine’s life of more than sixty years gives us a strong foundation and the necessary financial resources to weather the headwinds of a tough economic climate, slowing growth, rising inflation, and weaker commodity markets.

As always, our focus remains on safety, operational excellence, and maintaining a low-cost profile. This quarter, our PGM and chrome output was strong once again, driven by the volume extracted from the Tharisa Mine open pit. Production from the Vulcan Plant is steadily increasing to nameplate capacity, proving that Tharisa’s proprietary technology is working well.

With our investment in almost 10 MW of standby power generation we have had negligible disruption to our operations due to the challenges at Eskom and the subsequent power curtailments.

Notwithstanding the rail and port infrastructure challenges, the logistics team have successfully exported our chrome products via various channels and modalities.

Beyond South Africa, our growth strategy remains on track with the detailed engineering design work, upfront infrastructure, and placement of long lead capital items for the Karo Platinum project continuing to progress in parallel with the finalisation of the financing options.

Overall, this has been a supportive quarter for our organic and development growth.”