THARISA raised $31.8m from a privately bond issuance which will be used to partly finance the company’s proposed $391m Karo Platinum project. The company said in October that it intended to raise a total of $440m for the project.
The amount raised was below a previously stated target of $50m but exceeded the minimum requirement of $25m. The bonds will be listed on the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange, the company said.
Tharisa said it had also applied to the Zimbabwean authorities have the bond a prescribed asset which would enable other investors to hold the instrument. Regulatory approval had so far not been awarded.
Karo Platinum had been expanded to 194,000 ounces annually in platinum group metals (PGMs) compared to a previous production estimate of 150,000 oz/year.
The balance of total capital required for Karo Platinum would be sourced from $260m in project finance and $130m raised against the company’s existing assets.
Once built, in about two years from the start of construction, Karo Platinum would make Tharisa a near-400,000 oz/year PGM producer. Pouroulis said it represented the making of the company with combined PGM production for 17 years ahead of anticipated sustained deficits for the metals.
According to Tharisa assumptions of an average PGM 6E price of $2,140/oz and cast cost of $1,096 per PGM oz, Karo would generate a return on capital invested of 30.1% and an internal rate of return of 26.1%. “We have a tier one project that is robust with world class economics,” said Phoevos Pouroulis, CEO of Tharisa.
