De Beers upbeat on Botswana diamond pact after meeting new president
De Beers' CEO said he expected negotiations on a new diamond sales pact with Botswana's government to be wrapped up within weeks.
Tharisa Plc has raised $31.8 million through a bond issue in Zimbabwe to go towards the construction of a $391 million platinum group metals (PGM) mine in the southern African country, the company said on Monday.
Tharisa, a South Africa-based PGM and chrome co-producer, had planned to raise $50 million to partly fund the building of its 70%-owned Karo platinum mine in Zimbabwe’s Mhondoro-Ngezi district, near the site of Impala Platinum’s Zimplats operations.
“The issuer (Tharisa) has received applications to subscribe for notes… totalling $31.8 million – exceeding the minimum requirement of $25.0 million,” Tharisa said in a statement. However, it raised less than targeted, after failing to attract as much interest from pension funds as hoped.
The bonds will be listed on Zimbabwe’s US dollar-denominated Victoria Falls Stock Exchange on Dec. 16, the company said.
Construction of the first phase of the Karo platinum mine, with planned annual output of 194,000 ounces from July 2024, is already underway and Tharisa plans to raise the bulk of the $391 million through bank loans.
It will join other South African miners Impala, Anglo American Platinum and Sibanye Stillwater that have operations in Zimbabwe.
(By Nelson Banya; Editing by Susan Fenton)
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