JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – JSE-listed Tharisa increased production – relative to the comparable quarter – at its flagship chromite and platinum-group metals (PGMs) expansion mine, near Marikana, in the four months to December 31, 2015. 

The company regards this as “commendable”, considering the number of production shifts lost, owing to safety stoppages, and given that the mine reverted to a single mining contractor model during the year’s final quarter.

The Cyprus-domiciled but South Africa-focused company on Friday reported that it had mined a total of 1.12-million tonnes of ore at an average grade of 1.61 g/t of six-element (6E) and 27.3% chrome in the previous quarter, with 6.4-million cubic metres of waste rock moved.

Tharisa noted that, while the company’s transition to a single-contractor model from the multi-contractor model progressed according to the change-management plan, mining production was still impacted on by a number of Section 54 instructions issued by the Department of Mineral Resources.

These safety-related stoppages resulted in a loss of about 42 weighted production shifts or 15.1% of mill throughput. This led to the company producing 24 000 oz of 6E PGMs for the quarter, down from 24 400 oz year-on-year.

While the company aimed to achieve steady-state production of 144 000 oz/y of PGMs, and chrome concentrates of 1.5-million tons a year, the impact of the stoppages during the quarter on production made achieving that target a challenging task.

“These production levels are, however, expected to be achieved on an annualised basis during the financial year,” noted Tharisa.

The company added that the suspension of mining operations following a fatality in September 2015 resulted in the run-of-mine (RoM) stockpiles being substantially depleted, which meant that a non-optimal blend of reef was fed into the plants.

“This has had a negative impact on production, which we expect to stabilise in the second quarter. The mine plan tackles the rebuild of the RoM stocks,” said Tharisa.

Meanwhile, the company reported that the chrome concentrate contract price also remained under pressure following the weakening of the South African rand and devaluation of the renminbi against the dollar.

“This, coupled with the continued slowdown in the Chinese economy, has resulted in not only reduced pricing but also product demand. However, we continued to benefit from the sales revenue earned on the higher value-add chemical and foundry grade chrome concentrates, which are premium products marketed to a broader market,” concluded Tharisa.