THARISA has reached agreement with Zimbabwe on fiscal regulations for its proposed $545m Karo Platinum project, a critical step ahead of concluding its funding.
“Agreement has been reached with the Government on the substantive fiscal arrangements, and these are being finalised through the respective ministries,” said Phoevos Pouroulis, CEO of Tharisa.
He added: “Our financing team has made significant headway in structuring and negotiating facilities to achieve project completion”. About $300m of project financing is outstanding. Tharisa is discussing debt terms with lenders as well as the possible participation of a strategic equity investor.
Pouroulis’s comments were made in Tharisa’s interim results announcement on Thursday in which the platinum and chrome miner reported a five-fold increase in headline share earnings of 16.6 US cents per share (2025: 2.9c/share).
The earnings were partly driven by an improvement in platinum group metals production while chrome output was unchanged. This production performance was despite inclement first quarter weather which affected grades.
But the larger part of the earnings increase was market related, especially a strong year-on-year recovery in platinum group metal prices which averaged $2,599/oz (2025: $1,403/oz). The chrome market was also robust. Tharisa reported an average metallurgical grade chrome price of $284/t compared to $253/t) previously.
“Overall, market fundamentals have remained strong,” said Pouroulis.
