Karo’s giant platinum mine progressing well

South African firm, Tharisa Capital, says plant construction and pilot mining at its Karo Platinum Project in Zimbabwe are progressing well, with the project having attained 536 363 lost time, injury, and fatality-free hours as of June 30, 2023.

Zimbabwe’s mining sector accounts for more than 75 percent of the country’s foreign currency while gold and platinum, between them, account for over 50 percent of exports from the mining sector.

The Government says it has achieved the target of US$12 billion mining industry, which was to be met by the end of this year.

Already, Karo has invested more than US$70 million while a total of US$391 million would be sunk in the project under the first phase of the project.

Karo’s multimillion-dollar platinum mine is one of several multi-million dollar projects that took off and have seen rapid development progress since President Mnangagwa’s pro-business administration came into power in 2017.

The Special Grant awarded to Karo Platinum is located in the Great Dyke in the Mashonaland West District, approximately 80kilometres southwest of Harare and 35km southeast of Chegutu, south of the Zimplats (Zimbabwe’s largest platinum producer) Selous Metallurgical Plant and north of the Zimplats Ngezi operations.

The Great Dyke is a PGM (Platinum Group Metal) bearing geological feature that runs from north to south in Zimbabwe. It is approximately 550km in length and up to 11km wide, second to the Bushveld Complex of South Africa, the world’s largest platinum producer, in terms of its PGM resource base.

Karo Mining Holdings plc (Karo), as part of its continuous obligations for its US dollar-denominated structured debt instrument listed on the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange (VFEX), is supposed to periodically make a regulatory announcement.

The company raised US$36,8 million through the US dollar-denominated structured debt instrument that was successfully listed on the VFEX.

The funds raised are being used to partially fund the development of phase 1 of the Karo platinum project, which is being developed on the Great Dyke in Mhondoro-Ngezi, Mashonaland West Province.

In the update, Tharisa said that as of June 30, 2023, Karo employed 540 people on site, of which 99 are Karo employees and the balance are contractor employees.

“Most of these employees are drawn from the local community. The safety and health of all employees on the Karo site are of paramount importance. Karo is proud to report that by the end of June 2023, the project had attained 536 363 lost time, injury, and fatality-free hours,” reads the statement.

The company said construction of bulk earthworks commenced in December 2022, and the first concrete was poured in June 2023.

Tharisa added that in the same month, open-pit pilot mining commenced with the objective of optimizing the mining methods and producing ore to further test and refine metallurgical processing.

At nameplate capacity, Karo will process approximately 2,5 million tonnes per annum (tpa) of ore and produce 190,0k oz per annum of platinum group metals. Karo wishes to advise of a regulatory announcement (PGMs) (6E basis).

The Karo project, together with other upcoming platinum projects and upgrades from existing platinum mines worth over US$10 billion, is set to position the country as a global platinum powerhouse.

The World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC) considers Zimbabwe to have the world’s second-largest platinum group metals (PGM) resource, after South Africa, on the Great Dyke.

In the update, the company said it also made directorate and senior management appointments at Karo Mining Holdings.

In the second quarter of financial year 2023, Karo changed its auditors from EY Cyprus to BDO Cyprus.

In Q3 FY2023, Mrs Gloria Zvaravanhu was appointed to the board as an independent non-executive director and chairman of the audit committee on April 5, 2023.

According to Tharisa, Mrs Zvaravanhu is a Chartered Accountant and a highly accomplished professional with a number of postgraduate qualifications, including a Master’s Degree in Business Leadership from the University of South Africa and a Master’s Degree in International Business Law from the University of Cumbria, United Kingdom.

Tharisa said she is a Zimbabwean national, is the Managing Director of a leading insurance company in Zimbabwe, and has previously held senior roles across a multitude of companies, including KPMG.-herald