Name of the Project
Karo Platinum project.

Location
The project is situated on the Great Dyke, in the Mashonaland West district of Zimbabwe.

Project Owner/s
Karo Platinum, which is jointly owned by the government of Zimbabwe and Karo Mining Holdings.

Tharisa has a stake in Karo Mining Holdings. Tharisa has exercised its farm-in option to acquire a controlling interest in Karo Mining Holdings for $27-million in shares in March 2022. Tharisa now holds a 66.3% interest in Karo, compared with the 26.8% it previously owned. The Leto Settlement will hold the remaining 33.7% in Karo Mining Holdings.

Project Description
The Karo project is a long-life asset, with an initial 20-year life-of-mine.

The project has initial probable reserves of 35.5-million tonnes at 2.31 g/t and 2.6-million ounces of platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium and gold (5 PGE + gold), and a platinum, palladium, rhodium and gold resource prill favouring platinum (45%), palladium (42%), rhodium (4%) and gold (9%).

The mining plan will target mining 2.1-million tonnes of run-of-mine (RoM) material for the Phase 1 operations at a grade of 3 g/t (5 PGE+Au). The mining operations will be undertaken by a mining contractor. An owner’s mineral resource management team will be in place for oversight of the mining operations and grade control.

The mining operations will result in the development of four openpits sequentially, up to a maximum pit depth of 100 m over a total strike length greater than 20 km.

The processing of the RoM will be through an MF2 platinum group metals (PGMs) flotation circuit, processing 175 000 t a month of RoM. The average production of PGMs in concentrate will be 150 000 oz/y (5 PGE+Au). The processing plant has been designed using proven technology and beneficiation processes.

The integrated mining and refining complex includes the establishment of a 300 MW solar power plant, which will feed power into the Zimbabwe electricity grid.

Potential Job Creation
The project could generate up to 15 000 direct jobs and 75 000 indirect jobs across the value chain.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has an after-tax net present value of $770.4-million at spot PGMs prices and an internal rate of return of 47.6%.

Capital Expenditure
Peak funding is estimated at $310-million, with capital estimated at $250-million.

Planned Start /End Date
The project has a 24-month development timeline.

Latest Developments
Implementation studies have been completed at the Karo Platinum project.

Karo Platinum is in advanced discussions with financiers specifically about export-import finance, including political and commercial guarantees to provide the senior debt funding for the company.

The necessary equity capital contribution for Karo Platinum will be funded mainly from the in-house cash flows and capital market facilities of the company. The optimal funding solution is being finalised and further information will be released to the market in due course.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
None stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Karo Mining Holdings, email info@karomining.com.