Tharisa off to slow start in 2025 amid weaker metal prices

THARISA reported lower first quarter production owing to poor availability of drilling equipment. Coupled with an easing in the chrome price, it contributed to a quarter-on-quarter decline in cash of $89m (Q4: $108.9m).“Undoubtedly a tough start to the new year,” said Phoevos Pouroulis, CEO of Tharisa in a production update on Monday. First quarter platinum group metal production fell to 29,900 ounces (37,100 oz) while chrome output was 374,400 tons (426,800 tons).“We have subsequently improved the drilling rates and equipment availability,” said Pouroulis. “The focus this quarter will be on optimising the feed grade and improving our recoveries to previous levels.”Production guidance for PGMs is unchanged at between 140,000 and 160,000 oz and between 1.65 million tons to 1.8Mt of chrome concentrates.Pouroulis was confident the chrome price would improve this year. The average metallurgical grade chrome concentrate price was $271/t down from $314/t in the previous quarter. The lower price was owing to uncertainty over the direction of stainless steel demand, said Tharisa.“Physical demand remains at normal levels with port stocks approximating one month supply to ferrochrome demand,” said Pouroulis. “Disruptions at the Mozambique border with lockdowns impacted road transport to the port of Maputo, impacting the delivery of cargoes to end use customers,” he said.As for PGM prices, there was no sign yet of the much-anticipated recovery, though the price has stabilised following last year’s correction. They averaged $1,381/oz compared to $1,370/oz in the fourth quarter. Pouroulis described prices as “stubborn”.Tharisa reported a cybersecurity incident on December 19 after detecting unauthorised activity on its network. At the time, the company said its operations had been unaffected. Said Pouroulis today the company had adopted “work-around solutions” to minimise disruptions to administrative, accounting and support services”.“Good progress has been made in bringing the affected systems back online,” he said. The post Tharisa off to slow start in 2025 amid weaker metal prices appeared first on Miningmx.Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com