THARISA, the JSE-listed platinum and chrome miner, is preparing an initial five-year $300m bond with the proceeds aimed at plugging the balance of its $545m Karo Platinum project in Zimbabwe.
Meetings with potential investors are scheduled to take place from today, with lenders DNB Carnegie, and HSBC unveiled as joint bookrunners. Absa is co-manager.
“A new five-year senior secured bond with an initial issue amount of $300m issued by the company’s wholly owned subsidiary Arxo Finance plc may follow,” said Tharisa of its planned investor meetings.
Finance for Karo Platinum, which could be completed by the end of the week, will give momentum to Tharisa’s plans for third-quarter production in 2027 from Karo Platinum. At full throttle, the mine will almost double Tharisa’s platinum group metals production to just under 400,000 ounces a year.
Tharisa produced 138,300 oz of PGMs in its 2025 financial year. It has guided to production of between 145,000 to 165,000 oz for this year.
The announcement of a possible bond issue, terms of which will be settled in its investor meetings, comes after Tharisa received a 25-year special mining lease from the Zimbabwean government for Karo Platinum on August 24. Days later, Tharisa unveiled an initial five-year offtake agreement for concentrate from Karo Platinum to Valterra Platinum.
“In our view, the proposed $300m bond issue would effectively satisfy the project’s remaining capex requirements, substantially de-risking the development phase and positioning Tharisa to successfully transition into a multi-mine operator,” said Berenberg Bank in a note today.
“At current valuation levels, we believe the market is attributing minimal or no value to Karo during its build-out phase, creating a compelling asymmetric opportunity for investors with a medium-term horizon,” said Keenan du Toit at Vunani Securities in a recent report.
Analysts at Peel Hunt, a UK brokerage, agree, describing the project as ‘a step change’ that could add $250m to Tharisa’s EBITDA – a step-up on its trailing five-year average of $180m.
Investors have been uncertain how Tharisa planned to fund Karo Platinum, even though the company has a cash balance of $198.8m and holds net cash of $10.7m as of end-June. It has also pumped $241m of its own equity into the project.
Karo is one of the largest undeveloped platinum group metals projects on the Great Dyke. It has an open-pit mineral reserve of 2.1 million ounces and an open-pit mineral resource of 11.2 million oz on a 4E basis.
Potential underground mining could extend the operation to a mine life exceeding 50 years. Phase 1 is designed to produce 226 000 oz of PGMs annually once ramped up.
Karo Platinum is 85% owned by Karo Mining Holdings, in which Tharisa holds a controlling interest. The Zimbabwean government owns the remaining 15%.
