Tharisa Minerals (South Africa) 100%
Tharisa Minerals is 100% owned by Tharisa and is uniquely positioned
as a significant co-producer of both PGMs and chrome concentrates. Located in the
south-western limb of the Bushveld Complex, in South Africa, the mechanised mine
has an 18-year open-pit life and the ability to extend operations underground by at
least an additional 40 years.
Arxo Metals (South Africa) 100%
Arxo Metals produces specialised higher margin chemical and foundry
grade chrome concentrates, operates Sibanye-Stillwater’s K3 UG2
chrome plant in Rustenburg, and is the Group’s research and
development arm. It also operates a 1MW DC furnace to produce
PGM-rich metal alloys. Arxo Metals conducts extensive research and
development into technologies and beneficiation opportunities.
MetQ (South Africa) 100%
MetQ manufactures equipment used in the mining industry, with a particular focus
on beneficiation.
Arxo Logistics (South Africa) 100%
Arxo Logistics manages the rail, shipping and road distribution of PGM concentrate
and chrome concentrates produced by the Tharisa Mine, and chrome concentrates
from Sibanye-Stillwater’s K3 UG2 chrome plant. These products are transported to
customers in South Africa and international customers via port facilities in Richards
Bay, Durban and Maputo.
Arxo Resources (Cyprus) 100%
Arxo Resources markets and sells chrome concentrates to customers globally.
Karo Mining Holdings (Cyprus) 70%
Karo Mining Holdings’ strategy is to establish an integrated PGM mining and refining complex in Zimbabwe.
Salene Chrome (Zimbabwe) 100%
Open-pit high value chrome mine adjacent to the Great Dyke
in Zimbabwe.
Karo Platinum (Zimbabwe) 85%
Tharisa holds an indirect 59% stake in Karo Platinum, via its 70%
holding in Karo Mining Holdings, with Generation Minerals, a
Republic of Zimbabwe SPV holding 15% on a free carried basis.
The Karo Platinum Project (“Karo Project”) is a long-life asset with an
initial life of mine of 17 years. It has initial probable reserves of
35.5 Mt at 2.31 g/t and 2.6 Moz (5PGE+Au) and a 3PGE+Au resource
prill split favouring platinum (45.0%), palladium (42.0%) rhodium
(4.0%) and gold (9.0%) with material base metal credits.
Progress pictures of our Karo Mining site, our impact investment will not only create much-needed job opportunities but also have a significant impact on our quality of life. The Karo Mine has been designed to operate with the highest standards of safety, sustainability, and social responsibility, ensuring that our environment and communities are protected
Tharisa Minerals is 100% owned by Tharisa following the acquisition of the minority shareholders’ interest during FY2022 and is uniquely positioned as a significant co-producer of both PGMs and chrome concentrates. Tharisa Minerals’ core asset is the Tharisa Mine, which is situated on South Africa’s Western Limb of the Bushveld Complex – home to more than 70% of the world’s platinum and chrome resources.
Tharisa Minerals mines and processes five MG Chromitite Layers. The mined reef is processed through innovative engineering at two independent plants extracting both PGMs and chrome concentrates. This combined co-product output reduces unit costs and positions Tharisa Minerals in the lower cost quartile of operating costs in South Africa for both PGMs and chrome concentrates.
Tharisa Minerals’ low unit costs, operating flexibility and multiple polymetallic products have ensured that it is well placed to manage commodity price and exchange rate volatility.
Its dual revenue streams provide a natural hedge against different commodity cycles with the products used in various applications.
Tharisa Minerals holds a Mining Right over 5 475 ha of land near the town of Rustenburg in the North West province of South Africa. The Mining Right was granted on 19 September 2008 for an initial period of 30 years, providing access to MG Chromitite Layers, which outcrop with a strike length of approximately 5 km.
The Tharisa Mine has a remaining open-pit life of 18 years with a projected 40-year underground mining operation. The open pit is divided into the east and west pits and extracts reef from five MG Chromitite Layers.
The mine produced
The mine produced
Provided FY2023 production guidance of between
Provided FY2023 production guidance of between
Arxo Logistics provides an integrated logistics platform that reduces the risk and costs of transporting concentrates. It manages the road transportation of Tharisa Minerals’ PGM concentrates to Impala Platinum and Sibanye-Stillwater and the long-haul transportation of chrome concentrates from the Tharisa Mine and K3 UG2 chrome plant to international customers through bulk and container shipping. Due to inland logistical constraints on the rail network, Arxo Logistics has, over the past year and beyond, expanded its footprint and operating ports to ensure greater flexibility and supply certainty for global customers. Arxo Logistics now ships via Richards Bay Dry Bulk Terminal and the Durban ports and Maputo Harbour. All material was delivered on time by Arxo Logistics.
The logistics arm of the Group has the necessary road and rail transport capacity, warehousing facilities, and port facilities at the Richards Bay Dry Bulk Terminal and the Durban port to manage Tharisa Minerals’ full production capacity. It also serves as a platform from which the Group can provide services to additional third-party customers.
Arxo Logistics provided third-party logistics services during the year under review.
Arxo Logistics shipped a total of 1.4 Mt (FY2021: 1.3 Mt) of chrome concentrate in FY2022, primarily to main ports in China, including third-party materials.
Arxo Metals is also the beneficiation, research, and development arm of the Group. Arxo Metals conducts extensive research into technologies and downstream beneficiation opportunities that have the potential to improve yields and recoveries at the Tharisa Mine. Its core focus is creating increased value PGM and chrome products through expanding and optimising the Group’s processing operations.
Arxo Metals operates a comprehensive beneficiation site near Brits, 40 km from the Tharisa Mine. Incorporated at the beneficiation sites is the Company’s 1 MW DC furnace, owned by Tharisa Minerals, which produces PGM alloy, and is continuing its research work into refining processes. The beneficiation site also houses other metal production facilities, in line with the Company’s stated strategy of maximising value for the raw materials it produces and research facilities for energy production and storage.
Arxo Metals owns the Challenger Plant, which is integrated into Tharisa Minerals’ Genesis Plant. The Challenger Plant is dedicated to producing chemical-grade and foundry-grade concentrates. Specialtygrade concentrates carry more stringent specifications and therefore fetch a higher selling price. Arxo Metals has an offtake agreement to sell its concentrates to customers globally in the chemical and foundry industries. Arxo Metals accounted for producing 80.8 kt of chemicalgrade chrome concentrate (2021: 99.5 kt) and 21.6 kt of foundrygrade chrome concentrate (2021: 25.5 kt) in FY2022.
In August 2017, Arxo Metals entered into an agreement with Sibanye-Stillwater on the operation of its K3 UG2 chrome plant and for the sales and marketing of the UG2 chrome concentrate produced. The chrome production for FY2022 from the K3 UG2 chrome plant was 188.2 kt, down slightly from 223.0 kt in FY2021.
Arxo Resources, with a strong established platform of global customers, including stainless steel and ferrochrome producers, and commodity traders, has the exclusive right to sell the metallurgical-grade chrome concentrate produced by Tharisa Minerals to customers in China and other international markets.
The scale of Arxo Resources’ operations allows for direct access to market and price discovery. Its established contact with customers also directly creates an excellent platform for additional sales of third-party products.
In FY2022, Arxo Resources sold 1.4 Mt (FY2021: 1.3 Mt) metallurgical-grade chrome concentrates, of which 1.2 Mt was produced by Tharisa Minerals.
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The Karo Platinum Project ('Karo Project') is a long-life asset with an initial 17 year life of mine. It has initial probable reserves of 35.5 Mt at 2.31 g/t and 2.6 Moz (5PGE+Au) and a 3PGE+Au resource prill split favouring platinum (45.0%), palladium (42.0%) rhodium (4.0%) and gold (9.0%) with material base metal credits.
The Mining Lease area for the Karo Project covers an area of 23 903 ha and is located within the Great Dyke in the Mashonaland West District of Zimbabwe, approximately 80 km southwest of Harare and 35 km southeast of Chegutu. The Great Dyke is a PGM bearing geological feature that runs from a north to south direction. At approximately 550 km in length and up to 11 km wide, it is second to the Bushveld Complex of South Africa in terms of its PGM resource base.
The project, which is situated within a designated Special Economic Zone ('SEZ'), is located in the southern portion of the middle chamber of the Great Dyke and is supported by good infrastructure, including road and power access in the project area.
Tharisa plc, a JSE and LSE listed integrated resource group critical to the energy transition and decarbonisation of economies and incorporating exploration, mining, processing and the beneficiation, marketing, sales, and logistics of PGMs and chrome concentrates, is the controlling shareholder of Karo Mining Holdings, which controls the Karo Platinum Project.
Following the completion of an updated study in FY2022, which saw output increase from an initial 150 koz of PGMs per annum to around 190 koz of PGMs per annum, the project continues to show strong fundamentals:
The start of construction was officially recognised on 7 December 2022
MetQ is a South African-based company founded in 1979 that specialises in the manufacturing and distribution of mineral processing equipment, with a manufacturing facility based in Rosslyn, Pretoria, South Africa, becoming one of the market leaders in processes relying on particle sizing and gravity concentration of various minerals. It was acquired by Tharisa with effect from 1 October 2019.
MetQ developed and built its own polyurethane spraying equipment to spray solventless polyurethane as a wear-resistant coating. With this spraying system, spirals could be manufactured to rival the best international offerings and bring enormous cost savings for the mining industry. MetQ has expanded its spiral range to include custom-designed units to ensure maximum efficiency in gravity separation circuits used to recover numerous minerals. Other products like hydrocyclones, hydrosizers and screening media were also developed and added to the range. Products are continuously improved and developed to ensure an ever-expanding range of solutions.
MetQ supplies spiral to the Tharisa Group operations and other engineering equipment required by the Group while expanding its footprint to third-party customers in multiple commodities.
Salene Chrome is a development stage, low-cost, open-pit asset located in the Great Dyke in Zimbabwe.
The Salene Chrome project is located in an SEZ, which permits the import/export of capital without any trade barriers. Benefits beyond the expatriation of capital include a reduced tax rate, duty-free importation of raw materials and exchange control facilities.
Salene Chrome was placed in care and maintenance following the introduction of a ban on exports of chrome concentrates by the Government of Zimbabwe and pending a review of the business case.
Tharisa Minerals is 100% owned by Tharisa following the acquisition of the minority shareholders’ interest during the year, and is uniquely positioned as a significant co-producer of both PGMs and chrome concentrates. Tharisa Minerals’ core asset is the Tharisa Mine, which is situated on South Africa’s Western Limb of the Bushveld Complex – home to more than 70% of the world’s platinum and chrome resources.
Tharisa Minerals mines and processes five MG Chromitite Layers. The mined reef is processed through innovative engineering at two independent plants extracting both PGMs and chrome concentrates. This combined co-product output reduces unit costs and positions Tharisa Minerals in the lower cost quartile of operating costs in South Africa for both PGMs and chrome concentrates.
Tharisa Minerals’ low unit costs, operating flexibility and multiple polymetallic products have ensured that it is well placed to manage commodity price and exchange rate volatility.
Its dual revenue streams provide a natural hedge against different commodity cycles with the products used in various applications.
In 2021 Tharisa Minerals announced an extension of the open-pit LOM following an annual review of its Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve statement (see pages 80 to 85). Tharisa Mine’s open-pit mining will continue through 2040 while also de-risking the development of the operation for underground mining due to a managed transition. The Tharisa Mine remains a world-class, long-life asset that underpins our business and will continue to provide a sustainable, low-cost platform for over 50 years.
| Year ended 30 September 2022 |
Year ended 30 September 2021 |
Year-on-year movement % |
||||
| Reef mined | kt | 5 505.4 | 5 379.9 | 2.3 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stripping ratio | m3: m3 | 12.8 | 11.6 | 10.3 | ||
| Reef milled | kt | 5 608.2 | 5 600.0 | 0.1 | ||
| PGM flotation feed | kt | 4 274.5 | 4 248.2 | 0.6 | ||
| PGM rougher feed grade | g/t | 1.70 | 1.49 | 14.1 | ||
| PGM recovery | % | 76.6 | 77.6 | (1.3) | ||
| 6E PGMs produced | koz | 179.2 | 157.8 | 13.6 | ||
| Platinum produced | koz | 99.0 | 86.7 | 14.2 | ||
| Palladium produced | koz | 30.0 | 24.9 | 20.5 | ||
| Rhodium produced | koz | 17.2 | 15.4 | 11.7 | ||
| Average PGM contained metal basket price | US$/oz | 2 564 | 3 074 | (16.6) | ||
| Platinum price | US$/oz | 968 | 1 080 | (10.4) | ||
| Palladium price | US$/oz | 2 107 | 2 513 | (16.2) | ||
| Rhodium price | US$/oz | 14 962 | 18 860 | (20.7) | ||
| Average PGM contained metal basket price | ZAR/oz | 40 437 | 45 336 | (10.8) | ||
| Cr2O3 ROM grade | % | 17.4 | 17.9 | (2.8) | ||
| Chrome recovery | % | 68.3 | 63.3 | 7.9 | ||
| Chrome yield | % | 28.2 | 26.9 | 4.8 | ||
| Chrome concentrates produced (excluding third party) | kt | 1 582.7 | 1 506.1 | 5.1 | ||
| Metallurgical grade | kt | 1 233.2 | 1 141.5 | 8.0 | ||
| Specialty grades | kt | 349.5 | 364.6 | (4.1) | ||
| Third-party chrome production | kt | 188.2 | 223.0 | (15.6) | ||
| Metallurgical-grade chrome concentrate contract price | US$/t CIF China | 209 | 154 | 35.7 | ||
| Metallurgical-grade chrome concentrate contract price | ZAR/t CIF China | 3 345 | 2 284 | 46.5 | ||
| Average exchange rate | ZAR:US$ | 15.8 | 14.8 | 6.8 |
Mining operations
Tharisa Minerals holds a Mining Right over 5 475 ha of land near the town of Rustenburg in the North West province of South Africa. The Mining Right was granted on 19 September 2008 for an initial period of 30 years, providing access to MG Chromitite Layers, which outcrop with a strike length of approximately 5 km.
The Tharisa Mine has a remaining open-pit life of 18 years with a projected 40-year underground mining operation. The open pit is divided into the east and west pits and extracts reef from five MG Chromitite Layers.
Throughout the past three years, the mine has proven its ability to progress volume output, maintain flexibility and provide the necessary feedstock for output increase in mining.
Processing
Tharisa Minerals’ two independent processing plants are designed to treat the MG Chromitite Layers of the Bushveld Complex. The smaller volume Genesis Plant was commissioned in August 2011 with the PGM circuit in December 2011. The larger-volume Voyager Plant was commissioned in December 2012. Both plants operate above nameplate capacity following various upgrades and milled 5.6 Mt (2020: 5.0 Mt). The plants have a similar process flow that includes crushing and grinding, primary removal of chrome concentrate by spirals, followed by PGM flotation from the chrome tails and a second spiral recovery of chrome from the PGM tails.
The PGMs in the MG ore mined by Tharisa Minerals occur in the silicates. They are not associated with chromite, thus enabling the process to extract chrome before PGMs without sacrificing PGM recovery.
This lowers the chrome content in the PGM circuit and results in much lower chrome content in the PGM concentrate compared to typical UG2 operations. Base metal content in the MGs is also significantly lower than in Merensky and UG2 ores, resulting in a low matte pull during smelting, reducing base metal refining requirements.
Operating in parallel, the independent plants provide processing flexibility and production stability by allowing one plant to be shut down without hampering the production from the other. The modular design of the processing circuits allows sections of the plant to be stopped without affecting the rest of the operation (i.e. a crushing circuit can be stopped independently of the milling, spiral, and flotation circuits). While Tharisa Minerals has stand-by generating capacity to withstand stage 4 loadshedding, the operational flexibility adds to continued production during times of loadshedding, which was prominent in the latter part of the financial year and has, unfortunately, continued into the new reporting period.
Using off-the-shelf technology, the Genesis and Voyager processing plants are uniquely engineered to produce both PGM and chrome concentrates. This innovative approach to production has made Tharisa a world-class PGM and chrome concentrate co-producer.
A third high-volume plant, the Vulcan Plant, was commissioned in FY2021. The plant, which processes live tailings produced by the Voyager and Genesis plants, will ensure further beneficiation of the Company’s chrome production at the Tharisa Mine while reducing the unit output of carbon emissions.
The Vulcan Plant is the first large-scale plant to produce chrome concentrates from ultra-fines, consolidating Tharisa’s position as a key chrome producer. The concept of Vulcan was developed entirely in-house by the R&D team, to extract the ultra-fine chrome from tailings.
Specialty chrome recovery circuits are integrated into the feed circuit of the Genesis Plant, known as the Challenger Plant. The Challenger Plant, owned by fellow subsidiary Arxo Metals, was commissioned in July 2013 and produces chemical and foundry-grade chrome concentrates, significantly adding to the revenue diversification strategy of Tharisa.
The Group’s dual exposure to both the PGM and chrome markets gives the Group a hedge against volatility in either commodity price.
Tharisa Minerals supplied most of its PGM concentrate to Impala Platinum in terms of its offtake agreement and is paid a variable percentage of the PGMs and base metals contained within each tonne of concentrate in terms of an agreed market formula. The remainder of the PGM concentrate is sold to Sibanye-Stillwater.
The average PGM basket price was down 16.6% to US$2 564/oz (FY2021: US$3 074/oz).
Chrome concentrate sales totalled 1.50 Mt, 364 kt of which was Tharisa’s higher margin specialty chemical and foundry-grade chrome concentrates. The bulk of Tharisa’s sales is derived from metallurgical-grade chrome concentrate, which included 188.2 kt of third-party chrome concentrates.
Specialty-grade chrome concentrates produced within the Group are sold in terms of an agency and offtake agreement. Tharisa and an independent third party jointly market the chemical-grade chrome concentrate.
Chrome prices and sales improved year on year, with Tharisa increasing output by 5.1% to 1.6 Mt, with an average metallurgical price of US$209/t (FY2021: US$154/t), an increase of 35.7%.The production of the higher-value specialty chrome concentrates, which typically command a premium of US$30/t to US$50/t, provided additional margin.
Metallurgical chrome production is shipped in bulk and containers to major stainless steel and ferrochrome producers in China and Indonesia.
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