Tharisa PLC on Tuesday maintained its production guidance for its current financial year, following a solid increase in output for the second quarter.

For the three months ended March 31, the Cyprus-based mining company said production of 6E platinum group metals - platinum, ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, osmium and iridium - increased 23% year-on-year to 44,100 ounces from 35,800 ounces a year before, but was down 7.5% from 47,700 ounces the prior quarter.

Meanwhile, chrome concentrate production rose 4.6% year-on-year to 374,900 tonnes from 358,400 tonnes, but this was down 6.7% on a quarterly basis.

Over the quarter, Tharisa noted steady recoveries in spite of secondary mill breakdowns, with a mining blend optimised for PGMs leading to a slightly lower chrome grade.

Looking ahead, for the year ending September 30, Tharisa expects platinum production to be between 165,000 and 175,000 ounces, up from 157,800 ounces the year before.

Chrome concentrate meanwhile is set to range from 1.75 million tonnes from 1.85 million tonnes, up from 1.5 million tonnes the prior year.

‘Another safe and strong mining performance in what is traditionally our toughest operating quarter. Mining rates remain at record levels with production being impacted by certain secondary mill challenges which have since been addressed. These challenges dampened throughput and in turn production. This quarter’s output, though slightly lower, needs to be measured against our record breaking quarterly run rate and our step change to higher output remains intact on an annualised basis,’ said Chief Executive Officer Phoevos Pouroulis.

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