Tharisa to put debt ahead of dividend
The producer faces a ‘definitive year’ with the steep rise in the chrome ore price
Chrome and platinum group metals miner Tharisa would target debt and perhaps raise dividend payments to shareholders, taking advantage of a steeply higher chrome price, CEO Phoevos Pouroulis said on Wednesday. Tharisa, which is on the cusp of paying a maiden dividend, faces a "definitive year" with the steep rise in the chrome ore price as Chinese stainless-steel demand rises, said Pouroulis. In the year to September, the Johannesburg-and London-listed firm more than doubled its profit to $15.8m from $6m the year before. It declared its first dividend of $0.01 a share. In the first quarter of 2016, chrome ore prices fell to about $80 a tonne, forcing a number of ferrochrome producers in SA, the largest source, into business rescue and compelling ore suppliers to be far more disciplined in the amount of material they were selling, he said.
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