Tharisa, the dual-listed mining, metals and innovation group, has completed three milestones that underpin the development of its Karo Platinum Project on Zimbabwe's Great Dyke: securing the asset, validating demand for its output, and funding construction.
Over the past three weeks, the company signed a Special Mining Lease Agreement with the Government of Zimbabwe, concluded a long-term PGM offtake agreement with Valterra, and priced a US$300 million, five-year senior secured Nordic bond.
The Special Mining Lease Agreement, signed on 20 August, strengthens Tharisa's long-term security of tenure over Karo and provides the fiscal and regulatory stability the company says a project of this scale requires. Tharisa described the agreement as reflecting a constructive and ongoing partnership with Zimbabwean authorities.
The Valterra offtake agreement diversifies Tharisa's customer base for PGM concentrate from Karo and gives independent, third-party validation of the project's output ahead of first ore.
On the funding side, Tharisa priced the US$300 million bond on 10 September at 98% of par, carrying an 11.00% annual coupon. The bond will be issued by Arxo Finance plc, a wholly owned Tharisa subsidiary, and drew interest from more than 150 international institutional investors across Europe, the UK, the Middle East, North America and Asia. Proceeds will sit in escrow pending release conditions before being applied mainly to Karo's construction, with first ore to the mill targeted for the fourth quarter of calendar 2027. DNB Carnegie and HSBC acted as joint bookrunners, and the bonds are set to list on the ABM Fast Entry within 60 days, followed by a listing on the Euronext Oslo Stock Exchange within a year.
Tharisa CEO Phoevos Pouroulis said the three milestones mark a transformative moment for the company, having secured tenure, validated market demand and locked in scalable funding in one stretch. He added that pricing the group's first Nordic bond also brought a new, sophisticated international investor base to Tharisa's growth story, and that the capital allows the company to move into Karo's peak construction phase with confidence.
Alongside Karo, Tharisa's underground transition at its flagship Tharisa Mine in South Africa remains on schedule and within budget. Development of the Apollo complex, which began in March, is progressing toward first run-of-mine ore this quarter, with steady-state production of 255,000 tonnes a month targeted by the third quarter of calendar 2029. The Orion complex is expected to follow, targeting first ore in the 2031 financial year. Together, Tharisa says the two underground complexes should extend mining at the Tharisa Mine more than 60 years beyond the current open pit, and the underground project is fully funded through development loans from Absa and Standard Bank alongside an asset-based revolving facility from Nedbank.
The milestones land in a strengthening PGM price environment. Platinum traded above US$1,800 an ounce in early September, near multi-month highs, with the market still in structural deficit, while rhodium and palladium have also firmed from earlier lows. Tharisa said ruthenium and iridium are drawing increasing demand from AI infrastructure and renewable energy applications, and its own PGM basket price was trading at US$2,719 an ounce, alongside spot chrome at US$290 a tonne. The company's co-mining model, in which chrome cash flow supports PGM development through commodity cycles, continues to underpin its growth strategy.
Once complete, Karo will give Tharisa a second Tier 1 PGM asset and more than double the group's PGM output, complementing the underground transition at its flagship mine. Tharisa said its funding base has now diversified beyond bank debt and equity to include Nordic, European and US fixed-income investors.
Tharisa plc is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE: THA) and the London Stock Exchange (LSE: THS).