By ETimes
Miner Tharisa has reported an 8.7% increase in mill throughput at its South African operations to more than 1.4-million tonnes, with improvements in both grade and recovery for platinum group metals (PGMs) and chrome concentrate for the first quarter of the 2024 financial year, which ended on December 31.
This surge led to PGMs output reaching 35 700 oz, a notable increase on the 30 700 oz produced in the fourth quarter of the 2023 financial year.
Additionally, Tharisa achieved its highest ever quarterly chrome output at 462 800t, surpassing the 413 400t recorded in the previous quarter.
The PGMs basket price showed a slight improvement of 1% to US$1 344/oz, on a six element (6E) basis compared with US$1 331/oz in the fourth quarter of the 2023 financial year. Meanwhile, the average metallurgical grade chrome concentrate price remained steady at US$291/t, consistent with prices in the fourth quarter of the 2023 financial year.
“A positive start to our new financial year in what is traditionally a tough quarter, with the festive season and inclement weather typically causing challenges to operations. We have made good operational improvements, with waste mining advances leading to a better mining and plant performance, resulting in record quarterly chrome production.
“This performance is vital and underpins our development of the Karo platinum project [in Zimbabwe] and sets the trajectory for the coming decades at our multigenerational Tharisa mine,” Tharisa CEO Phoevos Pouroulis said on January 11.
Regarding the Karo Platinum Project, the review of the commissioning timeline remains on track for first ore in the mill by June 2025. Funding solutions ring-fenced to Karo Platinum are being pursued in line with the revised production timeline-HARARE