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JSE and London-listed miner Tharisa has reported higher full-year earnings, boosted by higher chrome production and sales.
The group’s principal operating asset is the multigenerational Tharisa Mine, located in the south-western limb of the Bushveld Complex. It is also developing the Karo Platinum Project, a low-cost, open-pit PGM asset located on the Great Dyke in Zimbabwe, while simultaneously focusing on beneficiation in the form of chrome and PGM alloys.
Revenue was 11% higher at $721.4m, while operating profit grew 26.3% to $119.6m.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) were 29.8% higher at $177.6m.
Headline earnings per share (HEPS) were flat at 28.1c compared with 28.3c a year ago. Total dividend was 10% lower at 4.5c.
Platinum group metals (PGM) production was up 0.3% at 145,100 ounces. PGM prices were depressed throughout the past year as destocking and the future of PGMs dominated supply-demand fundamentals.
PGM revenue decreased by 22.1% year on year as a result of a sharp decrease in PGM basket prices.
Tharisa said the average annual PGM price saw a decrease of 28% to $1,362/oz. This meant that in the first half of the year, the PGM market suffered from pricing pressure, with the effect of low prices manifesting itself in industry wide production cutbacks and shaft closures.
This was worsened by excess inventory in the PGM pipeline, which, contrary to forecasts, stretched into the latter part of the year as PGM prices continued to be constrained by the latency of pipeline destocking, it said.
Chrome sales volumes remained robust, with an increase of 15.7% contributing to a 26% increase in chrome revenue.
Tharisa produced a record 1.7-million tonnes of chrome concentrate. Prices were strong as a result of the market’s fundamentals, with real growth in stainless steel driven by demand from China and beyond.
Average annual metallurgical grade chrome concentrate prices were up 13.7% at $299 a tonne.
The group said it remained firmly of the opinion that the PGM prices over the next 12-24 months would be higher, fuelled by the continued evidence that the internal combustion engine would remain relevant for a much longer time to come, and its view that hybrid drivetrains were an integral part of the transportation mix.
“Furthermore, the physical platinum market is entering a longer period of supply deficit, which should be a catalyst for higher platinum prices in the near term. This, coupled with the hydrogen economy, we will see strong demand for PGM metals due to their unique chemical properties,” Tharisa said.
With the stainless-steel market in the Far East needing almost 2-million tonnes of chrome concentrate a month and the industry projected to grow about 3%, the fundamentals for chrome remained strong, particularly as logistics, both inland in SA and sea freight, remained complex, yet manageable, Tharisa said.
Any economic stimulus in China and beyond would provide solid support for the chrome market, it added.
Production guidance for the 2025 financial year is set between 140,000oz and 160,000oz PGMs and 1.65-million tonnes and 1.8-million tonnes of chrome concentrates.
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