Online Reporter
Nelson Gahadza
Business Reporter
CYPRIOT firm Tharisa Plc says it has completed three milestones for its Karo Platinum Project in Zimbabwe, de-risking the project and providing long-term investor security, fiscal and regulatory stability.
The Karo Platinum Project is strategically important to Zimbabwe because it expands the nation’s platinum production, attracts large-scale foreign investment, and creates over 1 000 steady jobs along the mineral-rich Great Dyke.
Over the past three weeks, Tharisa has signed a Special Mining Lease Agreement with the Government of Zimbabwe, concluded a long-term offtake agreement with Valterra and successfully priced a
US$300 million, five-year senior secured Nordic bond.
The London- and Johannesburg-listed mining group said the SMLA amendment reflects the constructive and continuing partnership with the Zimbabwean authorities and enables Tharisa to advance Karo’s construction with confidence.
This is strategically key as Tharisa moves to develop Karo into a second Tier 1 platinum group metals (PGM) asset, while simultaneously advancing the underground transition at its flagship Tharisa Mine in South Africa.
Tharisa is targeting the first ore from the Karo project in late 2027.
The Nordic bond was oversubscribed, attracting more than 150 international institutional investors from Europe, the United Kingdom, the Middle East, North America and Asia.
It will be applied largely towards completing the construction of the Karo Platinum Project in Mashonaland West Province, along Zimbabwe’s mineral-rich Great Dyke belt.
The bond, issued by Arxo Finance Plc, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tharisa, was priced at 98 percent of par and carries an annual coupon of 11 percent.
The oversubscribed offering attracted strong interest from more than 150 international institutional investors across Europe, the United Kingdom, the Middle East, North America and Asia, among other regions.
