JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Investment in downstream beneficiation is starting to pay dividends and to show real commercial results, says Tharisa CEO Phoevos Pouroulis.

“We sold our first commercial chrome alloy to an industrial user in South Africa and this really is the first step in a journey that sees us diversifying our product mix and allowing us to beneficiate our product in a unique proprietary way that opens up new markets, for our chrome business,” Pouroulis adds.

“Also very exciting is that we’ve managed to upscale and test our Redox flow battery system, which is a chrome-iron proprietary technology that’s developed from the chrome concentrate that we produced on site at Tharisa, ultimately providing a much-needed long-duration, long-life, efficient energy storage solution.

“We’ve had a very strong operational cashflow year and this really talks to that co-production business model. It truly has shown its resilience and robustness through the commodity cyclicality and volatility.

“Conviction may not be there in the PGM market at the moment but the fact is that these are the times when you need to invest and we see ourselves as being steadfast, committed to our vision and investing through the commodity cycle.”

On the environmental front, Tharisa has committed to reducing its carbon footprint by 30% by 2030 and has made strides towards achieving this by signing a 15-year, 40 MW renewable wind and solar energy wheeling agreement with Etana, which equates to about 40% of the company’s energy requirements.

This is in addition to its own progressing solar project, which will provide a site-embedded 30 MW of green power.

Tharisa COO Michelle Taylor reports that the co-product nature of the business and strategy embarked on some 15 years ago has served the company particularly well.

“There’s been a steady track record over a number of years of profitability as a consequence of this co-product model.

“Touching first on the platinum group metals that we produce, it was a little disappointing to see the PGM basket price down year-on-year. It was expected and something that we planned for and understood.

“PGM prices were down some 28% at $1 362/oz compared with $1 894/oz the prior year. From a supply point of view, there clearly is consistent messaging coming through the market in terms of expectation on further primary supply reduction and what we anticipate going forward into the next years.

“From a supply point of view, there clearly is consistent messaging coming through the market in terms of expectation of further primary supply reduction coming primarily out of South Africa, which we expect to be a main catalyst for PGM price increases.

“From a buying point of view, we saw buying patterns by automakers normalising … with 36% of sales in 2024 being attributed to plug-in hybrids and hybrids themselves,” Taylor points out.

Combustion engines, which remain a demand driver, have been relatively stable year-on-year and emission standards being rolled out will impact demand drivers and will call on the use of PGMs.

The London- and Johannesburg-listed chrome and PGM miner has reported improvements in its production for the financial year ended September 30, which culminated in a higher operating profit.

The group produced 145 100 oz of PGMs for the 2024 financial year, compared with the 144 700 oz produced in the prior year, while chrome concentrate production increased to 1.7-million tonnes, from 1.5-million tonnes in the prior year.

Notably, the company’s chrome output was the highest in its history of chrome concentrate production. Operating profit increased by 26.3% year-on-year to $119-million, compared with an operating profit of $94.7-million in the prior year.

The company’s flagship operating asset is the Tharisa mine, located in the Bushveld Complex of South Africa. Tharisa is also developing the Karo platinum project in Zimbabwe through a 76% shareholding in Karo Mining, which, in turn, holds 85% of the project. Tharisa will have an effective 68% interest in the Karo project once it fulfils its capital commitments.