Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. <\/strong><\/span>KARO Mining Holdings has pushed forward the commissioning of its platinum mining operation in Chegutu by over a year owing to volatile market conditions that do not guarantee a return on investment.<\/p>\nThe Cypriot miner, Tharisa PLC which is Karo\u2019s parent company, has announced delays in starting operations at the platinum mining project by over a year, owing to depressed international mineral prices.<\/p>\n
In July 2018, Karo Mining Holdings officially launched the Karo platinum project in Chegutu, and the firm expected to spend US$8 million on geological exploration to confirm and delineate the ore body before progressing to the bankable feasibility study.<\/p>\n
Tharisa holds a 75% stake in Karo Mining Holdings, a firm operating in Zimbabwe, which covers an area of 23 903 hectares located within the Great Dyke in Mashonaland West province.<\/p>\n
The project is an open-pit platinum group metals (PGMs) asset currently under construction at a cost of US$391 million with an expected annual output of 194 000 ounces.<\/p>\n
Tharisa\u2019s Chief Executive Officer, Phoevos Pouroulis revealed the commissioning delay as a result of weakening prices in a statement issued this Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven the current PGM basket price weakness and uncertain global economic outlook, we have taken the measured decision to extend the Karo Platinum timeline out to commissioning by June 2025, with the opportunity to accelerate the timeline as markets become more favourable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Karo platinum project has progressed well, and the revised timeline is aligned to funding availability and provides flexibility to navigate volatile market conditions.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur growth strategy remains firmly intact, with continuous optimisation at the Tharisa Mine, investment in downstream beneficiation and our commitment to the development of the multi-generational Tier 1 Karo Platinum project.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tharisa\u2019s announcement follows closely the Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe (CoMZ)\u2019s warning last week that globally, international mineral prices were softening.<\/p>\n
The low mineral prices are a result of slower-than-expected growth in China\u2019s economy and increasing geopolitical tensions that are affecting major commodity markets.<\/p>\n
In the first eight months of the year, Zimbabwe exported platinum unwrought or in powder form worth US$88,66 million providing a significant portion of foreign currency to the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe divergence in commodity prices could not have been more visible than the past quarter which saw us touching 52-week highs in the chrome market based on solid fundamentals, but these fundamentals were distinctly lacking in the PGM market, which saw prices drop more rapidly and lower than the market anticipated, resulting in broad-based challenges for the PGM market on the supply side,\u201d Pouroulis said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile current markets are volatile and unpredictable, we believe in the medium-term outlook for PGMs underpinned by a supply side constrained economy, supported by a robust chrome market driven by stable demand.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt Tharisa, our co-product model showed its resilience once again, supported by a strong recovery in chrome production in the second half of the year and benefiting from a 26% increase in price.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pouroulis said earlier operational mining challenges and resulting ore mix from the firm\u2019s own ore and purchased ore had a negative impact on PGM recovery and thus production.<\/p>\n
However, he added that this was supported by a strong focus and recovery in chrome in the second half of the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe waste contractor is now firmly in place, and we see a recovery in waste mining volumes for FY2024 (financial year), however, we remain cautious on our production outlook as evidenced by our guidance for the coming year,\u201d Pouroulis said.<\/p>\n
The margins remained strong due to its mechanised low-cost operations, with a continued disciplined capital allocation strategy, ensuring investment in existing businesses, providing sustainable growth and return to shareholders.<\/p>\n
Last week, the CoMZ reported that over the past 12 months, the mining industry had witnessed softening of prices for most key minerals and the most affected were rhodium down 74%, lithium (-69%), palladium (-41%), diamond (-60%) and nickel (-8%).<\/p>\n
Karo considers the Chegutu project to be situated in a highly prospective area, which is estimated to contain some 96 million ounces of platinum-group metals (PGMs) at a projected resource grade of 3.2 g\/t on a platinum, palladium, rhodium and gold, or 4E, basis.<\/p>\n
The conceptual designs are based on the operation of four open pit mining operations, the first of which was expected to begin operating in 2020.<\/p>\n
Karo Refining will include the concentration, smelting and refining to produce PGMs, and will include a base metal and precious metal refinery.<\/p>\n
At a steady state, the platinum mining complex is expected to produce 1.4 million ounces of refined PGMs a year. The refinery will be capable of treating up to two million ounces of PGMs a year, providing an additional 600 000 oz for toll refining to be used by other PGM producers in the country, encouraging other producers to beneficiate raw materials before export.<\/p>\n
The integrated mining and refining complex includes the establishment of a 300 MW solar power plant, which will feed power into the country\u2019s electricity grid.<\/p>\n
The project could generate up to 15 000 direct jobs and 75 000 indirect jobs across the value chain.<\/p>\n
Source: NewZimbabwe.com<\/b><\/p>\n
For More News And Analysis About Zimbabwe<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By James Muonwa Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. KARO Mining Holdings has pushed forward the commissioning of its platinum mining operation in Chegutu by over a year owing to volatile market conditions that do not guarantee a return on investment. The Cypriot miner, Tharisa PLC which is Karo\u2019s parent company, has announced delays in starting operations at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":85063,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7],"tags":[1493,2189,19],"class_list":["post-85064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-zimbabwe-2","tag-zimbabwe"],"yoast_head":"\n
Karo Holdings revises timeline for its Chegutu platinum project - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"KARO Mining Holdings has pushed forward the commissioning of its platinum mining operation in Chegutu by over a year owi ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/karo-holdings-revises-timeline-for-its-chegutu-platinum-project\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Karo Holdings revises timeline for its Chegutu platinum project\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"KARO Mining Holdings has pushed forward the commissioning of its platinum mining operation in Chegutu by over a year owi ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/karo-holdings-revises-timeline-for-its-chegutu-platinum-project\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-10-19T20:24:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-10-19T23:46:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/10\/sm_1697742838.201817.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"545\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/karo-holdings-revises-timeline-for-its-chegutu-platinum-project#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/karo-holdings-revises-timeline-for-its-chegutu-platinum-project\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Karo Holdings revises timeline for its Chegutu platinum project\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-19T20:24:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-19T23:46:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/karo-holdings-revises-timeline-for-its-chegutu-platinum-project\"},\"wordCount\":856,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/karo-holdings-revises-timeline-for-its-chegutu-platinum-project#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/10\/sm_1697742838.201817.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Zimbabwe\",\"Zimbabwe\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"files\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/karo-holdings-revises-timeline-for-its-chegutu-platinum-project#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/karo-holdings-revises-timeline-for-its-chegutu-platinum-project\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/karo-holdings-revises-timeline-for-its-chegutu-platinum-project\",\"name\":\"Karo Holdings revises timeline for its Chegutu platinum project - zimbabwe\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/karo-holdings-revises-timeline-for-its-chegutu-platinum-project#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/karo-holdings-revises-timeline-for-its-chegutu-platinum-project#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/10\/sm_1697742838.201817.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-19T20:24:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-19T23:46:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"KARO Mining Holdings has pushed forward the commissioning of its platinum mining operation in Chegutu by over a year owi ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/karo-holdings-revises-timeline-for-its-chegutu-platinum-project#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/karo-holdings-revises-timeline-for-its-chegutu-platinum-project\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/karo-holdings-revises-timeline-for-its-chegutu-platinum-project#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/10\/sm_1697742838.201817.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/10\/sm_1697742838.201817.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":545,\"caption\":\"Karo Holdings revises timeline for its Chegutu platinum project\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/karo-holdings-revises-timeline-for-its-chegutu-platinum-project#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Karo Holdings revises timeline for its Chegutu platinum project\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/\",\"name\":\"zimbabwe\",\"description\":\"\u0623\u062e\u0628\u0627\u0631 \u064a\u0648\u0645\u064a\u0629 \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u0645\u062f\u0627\u0631 \u0627\u0644\u0633\u0627\u0639\u0629\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Karo Holdings revises timeline for its Chegutu platinum project - zimbabwe","description":"KARO Mining Holdings has pushed forward the commissioning of its platinum mining operation in Chegutu by over a year owi ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/karo-holdings-revises-timeline-for-its-chegutu-platinum-project","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Karo Holdings revises timeline for its Chegutu platinum project","og_description":"KARO Mining Holdings has pushed forward the commissioning of its platinum mining operation in Chegutu by over a year owi ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/karo-holdings-revises-timeline-for-its-chegutu-platinum-project","og_site_name":"zimbabwe","article_published_time":"2023-10-19T20:24:51+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-10-19T23:46:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":545,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/10\/sm_1697742838.201817.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/karo-holdings-revises-timeline-for-its-chegutu-platinum-project#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/karo-holdings-revises-timeline-for-its-chegutu-platinum-project"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Karo Holdings revises timeline for its Chegutu platinum project","datePublished":"2023-10-19T20:24:51+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-19T23:46:56+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/karo-holdings-revises-timeline-for-its-chegutu-platinum-project"},"wordCount":856,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/karo-holdings-revises-timeline-for-its-chegutu-platinum-project#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/10\/sm_1697742838.201817.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Zimbabwe","Zimbabwe"],"articleSection":["all news","files"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/karo-holdings-revises-timeline-for-its-chegutu-platinum-project#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/karo-holdings-revises-timeline-for-its-chegutu-platinum-project","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/karo-holdings-revises-timeline-for-its-chegutu-platinum-project","name":"Karo Holdings revises timeline for its Chegutu platinum project - zimbabwe","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/karo-holdings-revises-timeline-for-its-chegutu-platinum-project#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/karo-holdings-revises-timeline-for-its-chegutu-platinum-project#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/10\/sm_1697742838.201817.jpg","datePublished":"2023-10-19T20:24:51+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-19T23:46:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"KARO Mining Holdings has pushed forward the commissioning of its platinum mining operation in Chegutu by over a year owi ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/karo-holdings-revises-timeline-for-its-chegutu-platinum-project#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/karo-holdings-revises-timeline-for-its-chegutu-platinum-project"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/karo-holdings-revises-timeline-for-its-chegutu-platinum-project#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/10\/sm_1697742838.201817.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/10\/sm_1697742838.201817.jpg","width":800,"height":545,"caption":"Karo Holdings revises timeline for its Chegutu platinum project"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/karo-holdings-revises-timeline-for-its-chegutu-platinum-project#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Karo Holdings revises timeline for its Chegutu platinum project"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/","name":"zimbabwe","description":"\u0623\u062e\u0628\u0627\u0631 \u064a\u0648\u0645\u064a\u0629 \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u0645\u062f\u0627\u0631 \u0627\u0644\u0633\u0627\u0639\u0629","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85064\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}