A fourth quarter rebound in output saw chrome and platinum group metals (PGMs) miner Tharisa sporting a healthier balance sheet at financial year-end, restoring confidence in the company’s ambitious 10-year growth strategy.
The group reported a net cash position of $68.6m as of end-June, compared with $43.1m a year ago.
Shares in the miner dipped when it announced its expenditure plans a little over two weeks ago, which included the firm committing $500m to transitional capital over next decade.
It hopes to use this capital to migrate some of its open-pit operations underground in a bid to boost production to 2-million tonnes of chrome concentrate and 200,000 oz of PGMs, a long-held production target, but investors doubted whether it could afford its growth ambitions amid persistent mining input cost inflation.
In a statement on Tuesday, Tharisa CEO Phoevos Pouroulis said the $547m investment would go towards unlocking "multi-generational underground life" at the group's flagship Tharisa mine.
“In a dynamic mining landscape, these long-term capital investments are essential to unlocking resource potential, enhancing productivity, and securing value for future generations,” said Pouroulis.
Tharisa’s latest production figures show the company embarking on this new endeavour on solid ground. The firm reported PGM production at 41,300oz for the three months ended June, up nearly a fifth from the third quarter, taking full-year production to 138,000oz — just shy of its 140,000oz guidance.
Chrome production rose 2.9% on a quarterly basis to 407,200 tonnes in the three months ended June, taking full-year output to 1.56-million tonnes, down slightly from 1.7-million tonnes in the previous year.
While overall chrome and PGM production for the year was lower than last year’s output, stable chrome demand and soaring platinum prices helped lift the group’s cash on hand from $164.6m to $173m and cut its debt from $121.5m to $104.4m.
“Global demand trends, coupled with a constrained and complex supply response, have resulted in a market that is well- supported and structurally balanced. This equilibrium underpins our positive outlook as highlighted in our continued long-term investment in our strategic assets,” Pouroulis said.
Correction: October 14 2025
This story has been changed to reflect 200,000 oz of PGMs, from 2-million in the previous version.
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