Dec 5 (Reuters) - Tharisa Plc reported a 7.3% increase in annual profit on Monday as a jump in chrome prices offset the impact of weaker platinum group metal (PGM) rates.
The chrome and PGM miner's headline earnings per share (HEPS), the most common profit measure in South Africa rose to $0.411 for the year ended Sept. 30 from $0.383 a year earlier.
Tharisa said PGM output rose 13.6% to 179,200 ounces, while chrome concentrate production increased 4.6% to 1.58 million tonnes.
The company said the average PGM basket price of $2,564 per ounce was 16.6% lower than the record price reported in 2021 when the global economy started to emerge from COVID-19 lockdowns, pushing prices to all-time highs.
Tharisa, however, benefited from a 35.7% increase in the average chrome price during the reported financial year.
The company said its on-mine cash costs per tonne milled rose 14.1%, mainly driven by increases in the cost of diesel and explosives. Sea freight and land side logistics also put pressure on costs, with Tharisa reporting increases of 38.6% and 21.9%, respectively.
"We've built a resilience and a skill set that was able to deal with challenges. It wasn't an easy year, if you think about the inflationary pressure and the logistics constraints," CEO Phoevos Pouroulis told Reuters.
Tharisa expects to produce between 175,000 and 185,000 ounces of PGMs, while targeting chrome concentrate output of 1.75 million to 1.85 million tonnes.
The company's 70% owned Karo Mining Holdings is building a $391 million PGM mine in Zimbabwe with the first phase expected to contribute to the group's production from July 2024.
The company declared a final dividend of $0.04, bringing the total dividend for the year to $0.07, compared with $0.09 in the previous year. (Reporting by Nelson Banya; editing by Vinay Dwivedi and Jason Neely)
