JSE-, LSE- and A2X-listed Tharisa produced 34 300 oz of platinum group metallic (PGM) for the quarter ended March 31 – the second quarter of its 2026 monetary 12 months, with PGM recoveries steady at 77.5%.
Output was decrease than the 38 800 oz produced within the first quarter of the monetary 12 months, however greater than the 32 500 oz produced within the second quarter of the 2025 monetary 12 months.
PGM costs averaged $3 038/oz for the quarter underneath overview.
Chrome manufacturing, in the meantime, reached 404 000 t, a rise from the 349 400 t produced within the first quarter and better than the 381 000 t produced within the second quarter of the prior monetary 12 months.
Chrome recoveries had been steady at 69.7% and the common metallurgical-grade chrome focus worth was $290/t.
CEO Phoevos Pouroulis says the quarter’s outcomes replicate resilience and operational self-discipline, underpinned by Tharisa’s continued robust security efficiency, in historically the hardest operational quarter, impacted by elevated lightning occasions and excessive rainfall.
“We, nonetheless, elevated quarterly output within the chrome section, whereas PGM output was hampered by decrease grades within the reef being mined. Whereas reef mined was decrease within the quarter as a consequence of in-pit constraints, processing throughput remained robust with improved chrome feed grades supporting greater chrome focus manufacturing.
“PGM manufacturing was impacted by decrease grades within the reef being mined, though recoveries remained sturdy. On the processing aspect, PGM recoveries of 77.5% and chrome recoveries of 69.7% display the consistency of our operations,” he states.
The pricing surroundings strengthened materially through the quarter, with the common PGM contained metallic basket worth growing to $3 038/oz from $2 208/oz within the earlier quarter, whereas the common metallurgical-grade chrome focus contract worth improved to $290/t from $276/t.
Present chrome costs, at about $315/t, are supported by greater logistics and freight prices owing to the rise in world oil costs.
“In gentle of the present geopolitical challenges, we have now put in place mitigation measures to make sure, so far as doable, safety of gasoline provide to the Tharisa mine; whereas prices will improve, our focus stays on effectivity,” Pouroulis signifies.
The official begin of the underground growth on the Tharisa mine, in South Africa, befell on March 31, with the primary blast on the Apollo portal.
“This growth showcases the long-term lifetime of the Tharisa mine, with over 60 years of underground mining potential, whereas we can be investing over $500-million over the following decade to maintain the optimum output of over 200 000 oz/y of PGMs and two-million tonnes of chrome focus,” Pouroulis highlights.
“The underground growth is a pure development for the Tharisa mine and varieties a core pillar of Tharisa’s long-term strategic imaginative and prescient and capital allocation,” he provides.
Tharisa states that it continues to make good progress in additional derisking its Karo platinum challenge, in Zimbabwe, with openpit floor clearing beginning as deliberate, following the profitable mobilisation of its mining contractor on the finish of the second quarter.
“Infrastructure growth and funding in key work packages continues securing the mandatory energy, water and lengthy lead necessities. Good progress has been made when it comes to the Karo funding, which, will present the complete necessities for challenge completion and concentrating on first ore in mill within the second half of 2027.
“The funding is topic to closing settlement with the federal government of Zimbabwe on the fiscal stability agreements, that are nearing conclusion. These outcomes reinforce our confidence within the group’s technique, our steadiness sheet self-discipline and our skill to proceed delivering long-term worth,” Pouroulis says.
Tharisa’s manufacturing steerage for the complete 12 months is ready at between 145 000 oz and 165 000 oz of PGMs and 1.5-million to 1.65-million tonnes of chrome concentrates.
