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(Alliance News) - Cyprus and South Africa-focused Tharisa PLC on Tuesday reported a rise in production for the first quarter of its current financial year for both platinum and chrome, despite pandemic headwinds.
For the three months to the end of December, the output of 6E platinum group metals - platinum, ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, osmium and iridium - rose by 14% year-on-year to 39,300 ounces from 34,400 ounces the year before, but down 3.0% from 40,500 ounces the previous quarter.
Chrome concentrate production rose by 0.4% quarter-on-quarter to 372,300 tonnes from 370,800 tonnes, but increased by 8.7% from 342,500 tonnes the year before.
Looking ahead, the Paphos, Cyprus-headquartered miner maintained its annual production guidance of between 155,000 ounces to 165,000 ounces of 6E platinum, and 1.45 to 1.55 million tonnes of chrome concentrate.
"The first quarter provided a solid platform for Tharisa to meet its production guidance for the current financial year with all key metrics delivering strong growth versus the same period in FY2020. The consistent performance has been delivered in a strong spot market for PGMs in particular and stable chrome prices," said Chief Executive Officer Phoevos Pouroulis.
"The significant progress made in optimising our mining operations during the course of 2019, and 2020 has been demonstrated by the consistent performance and availability of our operations over the last several quarters. We continue to invest in our assets and in our market leading research and development, which will contribute to further production growth from our long life Tharisa Mine. The headwinds from the global Covid-19 pandemic continue to challenge the industry worldwide," Pouroulis added.
The Tharisa mine is located in the Western Limb of South Africa's Bushveld Complex near Rustenburg.
By Dayo Laniyan; dayolaniyan@alliancenews.com
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