HARARE -Karo Mining, a subsidiary of JSE and London-listed Tharisa Mining plc, confirmed that its mining project is on track with the first plant concrete pour finished in June of this year and open pilot mining has begun. The first ore to the mill scheduled for the second half of 2024.
In a trading update to June 30, 2023, Karo said after it commenced construction of bulk earthworks in December 2022, the first concrete was poured in June 2023. In the same month, open pit pilot mining commenced with the objective of optimising the mining methods and producing ore to further test and refine metallurgical processing.
The mine said at name plate capacity, Karo will process approximately 2.5-million tonnes a year of ore and produce 190 000 oz/y of six-element PGMs.
As at 30 June 2023, Karo employed 540 people on site, of which 99 are Karo employees with the balance being contractor employees. Most of these employees are drawn from the local community. Karo reported that by the end of June 2023, the project had attained 536 363 lost time injury and fatality-free hours.
During the third quarter, Gloria Zvaravanhu was appointed as an independent nonexecutive director and chairperson of the audit committee, while Rachel Rhodes resigned on June 5, whereupon Andrew Henwood was appointed FD.
Zvaravanhu is a chartered accountant with several postgraduate qualifications including a Master’s degree in Business Leadership from the University of South Africa and a Master’s degree in International Business Law from the University of Cumbria in the UK.
Zvaravanhu is the MD of an insurance company in Zimbabwe, and previously held senior roles across numerous companies including KPMG. She is also an experienced nonexecutive director with board experience on several Zimbabwean companies and is an advisory board member of the International Federation of Accountants.
