Johannesburg: South Africa’s Tharisa Plc announced plans on Friday to spend $547 million on an underground platinum group metals mining project over the next decade, betting on the metals being integral to the global shift to cleaner energy technologies. The company will transition its depleting open pit PGM and chrome co-producing Tharisa mine on South Africa’s Bushveld complex to underground mining within the next 10 years, it said.
According to Radio Television Brunei, the underground project is seen as a natural progression for Tharisa’s operations and aims to increase the life-of-mine development to access the multi-generational mineral resource base. CEO Phoevos Pouroulis emphasized the importance of PGMs as critical metals necessary for transitioning to cleaner energy technologies. Despite concerns regarding the impact of electric vehicle growth on PGMs, these metals remain valuable for fuel cell technologies and clean hydrogen.
Tharisa’s mechanized underground operations are set to commence ore delivery from the first of two shafts by the second quarter of 2026. This move is expected to enhance efficiencies, lower costs, and increase output. At full capacity, the underground operations aim to deliver at least 200,000 ounces of PGMs and over 2 million metric tons of chrome concentrate annually. For the 2025 financial year, Tharisa projects between 140,000 and 160,000 ounces of PGMs and 1.65 million to 1.8 million tons of chrome concentrates.
In addition to this project, Tharisa is developing the 226,000 ounce-per-year open pit Karo platinum mine in Zimbabwe. This mine is one of only two greenfield development projects in the platinum industry, alongside Ivanhoe’s Platreef mine in South Africa. The advance of electric vehicles has made miners cautious about developing new platinum mines. The number of PGM shafts has declined from 81 in 2008 to 53, as noted by South African platinum miner Northam.