(Alliance News) - Tharisa PLC on Thursday said its performance improved in the first half of its current financial year as production of reef and chrome increased.
The exploration and mining company reported an increase in revenue in the six months to the end of March to USD194.6 million from USD166.5 million, taking pretax profit to USD17.5 million from USD10.2 million.
During the first half, Tharisa said it mined 2.3 million tonnes of reef, up 2.3% compared to 2.2 million tonnes mines a year ago. Chrome concentrate production grew by 6.3% to 652,600 tonnes.
A reef is a vein of ore.
Platinum group metals production decreased by 1.6% to 66,500 ounces from 67,600 ounces year-on-year.
The two independent processing plants at the Tharisa mine in South Africa, namely Genesis and Voyager, continued to perform above nameplate capacity prior to the lockdown, the company noted.
The K3 chrome operation, however, remains on care and maintenance and is expected to restart in the third quarter. Tharisa's Vulcan project remains suspended given lockdown regulations remaining tightly in place in a number of industries.
Tharisa shares were untraded on Thursday in Johannesburg, last closing at ZAR12.01. In London, the stock was up 4.4% at 60.00 pence each.
By Evelina Grecenko; evelinagrecenko@alliancenews.com
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