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Tharisa to invest $391mn in Karo
Platinum mine in Zimbabwe
ZIMBABWE JOHANNESBURG-LISTED Tharisa has Karo mine production plan had been
announced it will spend $391mn on building a upgraded to 194,000 oz of PGMs per year, from
194,000-ounce per year platinum group metals 150,000 oz initially. The project will create 1,000
(PGMs) mine in northwestern Zimbabwe. jobs during its development phase and 1,000
Reuters cited Tharisa chief executive Phoevos more when operational.
Pouroulis on Wednesday (October 12) saying a Company managing director Bernard Pryor
groundbreaking ceremony for the first phase of said Karo was in talks with renewable energy
the project is scheduled for December. firm Total Eren for the development of a 300MW
Tharisa, which also produces chrome con- solar plant to supply the mine with power. Zim-
centrates and PGMs in South Africa, owns 70% babwe has an electricity generation deficit that
of Karo Mining Holdings, the developer of the often impacts mining operations.
Karo PGM project on Zimbabwe’s Great Dyke. Pryor said $260mn for the mine develop-
Construction of the open pit mine with a 17-year ment would be raised through bank loans, while
lifespan is expected to be finished by July 2024. $50mn will be raised on Zimbabwe’s US dol-
“We are fully licenced and permitted and we lar-denominated Victoria Falls Stock Exchange
believe this is a low-risk approach to any mining through a bond issuance. Tharisa would raise the
opportunity...being large-scale, open pit, low balance through leveraging its existing assets, he
cost and adopting a multi-phase development said, according to Reuters.
approach,” Pouroulis is quoted as saying.
P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 41 13•October•2022
