South Africa's Tharisa Mine Signs Long-Term Offtake Agreement for 50% of PGM Concentrate

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On October 15, mining company Tharisa announced that its subsidiary Tharisa Minerals signed a multi-year platinum group metals (PGM) concentrate offtake agreement with Rustenburg Platinum Mines, a subsidiary of South Africa's Valterra Platinum. Starting January 1, 2027, Valterra will purchase 50% of the PGM concentrate produced at the Tharisa Mine in South Africa, replacing the previous offtaker Sibanye-Stillwater, while the remaining 50% will continue to be purchased by Northam Platinum. The two parties will also collaborate to evaluate the feasibility of recovering fine chromium minerals using Tharisa's proprietary Vulcan X technology.

The Tharisa Mine is located in North West Province, South Africa, and produces PGM concentrate and chrome concentrate. The new agreement adjusts the sales allocation and downstream processing arrangements for the mine's PGM concentrate, with Valterra's Rustenburg Platinum Mines becoming the new offtake entity. The two parties reached a multi-year arrangement based on the original transaction terms, while Northam Platinum's existing offtake contract remains unchanged.

The two parties plan to study the deployment of Vulcan X fine chromium recovery technology at Valterra's existing production facilities. The technology, developed by Tharisa, is designed for the recovery and separation of fine chromium-bearing materials generated during ore beneficiation. Tharisa has completed the construction of the relevant pilot plant and is currently conducting technical testing. This collaboration constitutes a technology application assessment, with subsequent commercial deployment to be determined based on test results.

Tharisa's existing Vulcan fine chromium recovery system has already been applied in its own mine's beneficiation process. In fiscal year 2026, the company produced a cumulative total of 1.56 million tonnes of chrome concentrate; in the fourth quarter ending September, the chromium recovery rate increased from 68.2% in the previous quarter to 70.4%. The company attributes part of the recovery rate improvement to the Vulcan system's recovery of fine chromium minerals in the beneficiation process.

This collaboration follows the concentrate offtake arrangement for the Karo Platinum project in Zimbabwe signed by both parties on August 27, 2026. Under the previous agreement, Valterra will purchase PGM and base metal concentrates produced by the project over an initial five-year term. The Karo project plans to deliver ore to the processing plant for the first time in the fourth quarter of 2027, with Phase 1 designed to produce approximately 226,000 ounces of PGM per year.