Tharisa said today it commenced reduced mining activities last week at its mine in South Africa.

Mining was stopped by the government’s imposed lockdown on 25 March 2020, impacting the last ten days of March. The pit and the mining equipment was placed on care and maintenance, prior to Tharisa receiving permission to continue limited mining production during the lockdown.

A force majeure was declared on metallurgical chrome contracts, and the company received force majeure notifications from its PGM concentrate off-takers. The company also suspended capital projects.

“The impact of COVID-19 remains a significant and unquantifiable threat to South Africa’s economy – Tharisa fully supports the Government’s initiatives to combat this global pandemic. Since the commencement of the lockdown, Tharisa has fully complied with the DMRE to ensure that the Tharisa Mine is able to continue reduced operations during the lockdown period. Tharisa is a significant producer of chemical and foundry grade chrome concentrates which are used in a number of essential industries,” said Tharisa CEO Phoevos Pouroulis in a statement.

“I am extremely proud of our team working tirelessly with the DMRE and the Minerals Council to enable the Tharisa Mine to continue operations during the lockdown period, whilst safeguarding our employees in terms of social distancing and improved health measures in an already open air, low labour intensive environment.”