Tharisa is turning to the international debt market to help fund the remaining capital requirements of its US$545 million Karo platinum project in Zimbabwe, potentially removing a major financing hurdle as the mine moves towards first production, Mining Zimbabwe can report.
By Ryan Chigoche
The South African chrome and platinum producer has mandated DNB Carnegie and HSBC as joint bookrunners, with Absa Bank Limited as co-manager, to hold fixed-income investor meetings this week to test appetite for a new five-year senior secured bond.
The proposed bond would have an initial issue amount of US$300 million and could be issued through Tharisa’s wholly owned subsidiary, Arxo Finance. Proceeds would be directed towards capital expenditure at Karo and general corporate purposes, although the transaction remains subject to market conditions.
The move comes as Tharisa enters a critical phase in the development of Karo, one of the largest undeveloped platinum-group metals projects on Zimbabwe’s Great Dyke.
With development costs estimated at about US$545 million, the project has already absorbed around US$241 million of Tharisa’s capital. A US$300 million bond would therefore cover a substantial portion of the remaining requirement, potentially giving the company the funding capacity to push the project towards completion.
Karo is planned as a large-scale open-pit operation, with Phase 1 production expected to reach about 226,000 ounces of platinum-group metals a year once the mine is ramped up. First ore is targeted for the second half of 2027.
That production would make Karo a significant addition to Zimbabwe’s platinum industry, which is already anchored by Zimplats, Unki and Mimosa. The project would expand the country’s large-scale PGM production base while bringing additional investment into the Great Dyke.
The financing effort also follows progress in securing the project’s long-term operating framework. In August, Tharisa secured a 25-year Special Mining Lease from the Zimbabwean Government covering about 23,903 hectares on the Great Dyke, providing long-term mining tenure as development advances.
With the mining agreement in place, the focus is increasingly shifting from securing the right to mine to securing the capital required to build the operation.
Tharisa has also secured a five-year offtake agreement for Karo concentrate with Valterra Platinum, providing a commercial route for future production and further underpinning the project’s development.
For Tharisa, Karo represents a major expansion beyond its established South African operations. Once fully ramped up, the Zimbabwe project is expected to almost double the company’s annual PGM production to just under 400,000 ounces, compared with 138,300 ounces produced in the 2025 financial year.
That growth, however, requires substantial upfront investment before Karo can generate its own operating cash flow, making access to external financing increasingly important as construction progresses.
Tharisa had cash of US$198.8 million and net cash of US$10.7 million at the end of June, while having already committed significant equity to Karo. The proposed bond would allow the company to supplement its existing resources with debt-market funding rather than relying solely on internal cash generation.
For Zimbabwe, the financing outcome will be closely watched because Karo’s progress is increasingly tied to the availability of capital. A successful US$300 million bond would not represent completion of the project’s entire financing requirement, but it could remove a significant portion of the remaining funding burden and help move Karo closer to construction and first production.
The bond has not yet been raised, however. Tharisa is currently testing investor appetite, with the final size, pricing and completion of the transaction dependent on market conditions.
