Tharisa, a platinum group metals and chrome co-producer, has held a ceremony to mark the start of construction at its Karo Platinum site in Zimbabwe
The mining lease area for the Karo Platinum project cover an area of 23,903 ha and is located within the Great Dyke in the Mashonaland West District of Zimbabwe. At approximately 550 km in length and up to a 11 km wide, it is the second globally to the Bushveld Complex of South Africa in terms of its PGM resource based.
Tharisa is a 70% shareholder in Karo Mining Holdings which indirectly owns 85% of the Karo Platinum Project with the Government of Zimbabwe holding the remaining 15%.
Key stakeholders including representatives from the Government and the local community attended the ceremony. They were joined by a contingent from Total Eren, leading renewable energy independent power producer, and Chariot Limited, an African focused transitional energy group. Total Eren has signed an MoU to partner on, develop, finance, build and operate a 30MWp solar photovoltaic project that will provide competitive solar electricity for the Project.
Speaking at the event, Winston Chitando, Zimbabwe’s Minister of Mines and Development, stated that Zimbabwe is open for business and welcomed Karo as a partner in the new mine development which will see the creation of around 1,000 permanent jobs and up to 7,000 employment opportunities during the construction phase. Some 100 have already been created with a similar number of contractors on site.
Phoevos Pouroulis, CEO of Tharisa, commented, “We have a track record of not only building mines but have over a decade run the Tharisa Mine in a sustainable and profitable manner that has benefitted all stakeholders through job creation, upliftment and upskilling and returns to governments in the forms of royalty, taxes and the benefits of sustainable development and infrastructure. Stable fiscal environments ensure private capital is willing to invest and ensure impactful investment for all concerned and I look forward to being part of this next step on the Tharisa journey.”
