Chinese Momentum for Tharisa

Thanks to a boom in chrome prices, the platinum and chrome miner put in a stellar performance last year. Now the company wants to prove it can be profitable throughout the cycle.

- David McKay

Tharisa, a company that mines for chrome and platinum, was one of the best-performing mining shares on the JSE last year, largely owing to an incredible improvement in the price of chrome.

At one point, shares in the firm reached R28/share which was not too far from its opening listing price in 2014 of R35/share. At the time, Tharisa privately complained it wouldn’t have chosen that year to list, but its backers were keen on an exit strategy and called time on it.

Thus the listing happened amid some shrivening times for platinum producers – which Tharisa was principally considered to be at the time – with the result that the share price closed the year at a mere R6 apiece.

During the course of last year, however, it became apparent that critically low port inventories in China of about 700 000 tonnes of chrome – less than two weeks of total production – was unsustainable. In addition, a relaxation of credit in China unlocked fresh demand for stainless steel, of which chrome is an ingredient.