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Tharisa Plc has expanded its partnership with Valterra Platinum, which will replace Sibanye-Stillwater as the buyer of half of the platinum group metal (PGM) concentrate produced at its South African mine from January 2027, alongside a collaboration to explore fine-chrome recovery and beneficiation. Mining Zimbabwe can report.
By Ryan Chigoche
Under a multi-year agreement, Valterra will purchase 50% of the PGM concentrate produced at Tharisa Mine from 1 January 2027, while Northam Platinum will retain its existing offtake arrangement for the remaining half.
The agreement broadens Tharisa’s commercial relationship with Valterra beyond the Karo Platinum Project in Zimbabwe, where the companies signed a five-year concentrate purchase agreement in August, as the miner seeks to deepen its involvement in mineral processing and beneficiation.
Alongside the offtake arrangement, the two companies will explore opportunities to recover fine chrome at Valterra’s operations using Tharisa’s proprietary Vulcan X technology. The collaboration is aimed at unlocking additional value from chrome-bearing material through improved recovery and beneficiation.
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Tharisa Chief Executive Phoevos Pouroulis said the offtake agreement would provide greater certainty for its PGM production, while the chrome collaboration marked progress towards deploying its recovery technology beyond its existing operations.
“The agreement with Valterra Platinum to purchase 50% of the Tharisa Mine’s PGM concentrate from 1 January 2027, alongside Northam Platinum’s continued offtake, provides certainty for our PGM production. Equally important is our collaboration on chrome recovery and beneficiation. With the pilot plant complete and testing under way, we are taking a tangible step towards deploying our proprietary fine chrome recovery technology,” Pouroulis said.
The pilot plant has been completed, with testing under way ahead of any potential deployment at Valterra’s operations. The companies have not disclosed a commercial implementation timeline or quantified the additional chrome recovery expected from the collaboration.
Tharisa’s existing operations provide a basis for the technology partnership. The company produced 1.56 million tonnes of chrome concentrate in the financial year ended September 2026, while its chrome recovery rate improved to 70.4% in the September quarter from 68.2% in the preceding quarter. Tharisa attributed the improvement partly to Vulcan’s recovery of chrome from its processing circuit.
Valterra Chief Executive Craig Miller said the agreement would strengthen the company’s third-party processing portfolio, with the chrome collaboration offering a further opportunity to improve value from its processing operations.
“We are pleased to expand our relationship with Tharisa and further strengthen our third-party processing portfolio through the agreement to purchase 50% of the Tharisa Mine’s PGM concentrate from 1 January 2027. Our collaboration on fine chrome recovery and beneficiation is an important part of advancing opportunities to unlock value and enhance cash flow margins at Valterra Platinum,” Miller said.
The latest developments build on the companies’ August agreement covering concentrate from Karo Platinum, Tharisa’s project on Zimbabwe’s Great Dyke. Karo signed a five-year purchase agreement with Valterra for PGM and base-metal concentrate as the project advances towards production.
Karo is targeting first ore to the mill in the fourth quarter of 2027. The project is designed to produce approximately 226,000 ounces of PGMs annually at full capacity, providing a potential additional source of concentrate for the partnership once production begins.
The expanded relationship brings together Tharisa’s mining and chrome recovery technology with Valterra’s downstream processing capabilities, creating opportunities for cooperation across both PGM concentrate purchasing and chrome beneficiation.