Chrome and platinum ore miner Tharisa said on Thursday that it would commission a 1MW furnace to produce platinum-rich metals on a pilot scale. The alloy production by subsidiary Arxo Metals would improve Tharisa’s beneficiation capacity, the company said in a statement. The furnace is scheduled to be commissioned at the end of September 2017 and will take approximately six months to ramp up to a production of platinum group metals (PGM) rich alloy. The alloy will be smelted by Lonmin as part of a PGM research and development co-operation agreement, entered into in July. "The ... agreement is in line with the group’s strategic objective of moving down the value chain. Tharisa and Lonmin have a good relationship and we are pleased to be working together to our mutual benefit," said Tharisa CEO, Phoevos Pouroulis. In a separate statement, Tharisa said it had entered into an agreement with Western Platinum, a Lonmin subsidiary, for operation of its K3 UG2 chrome plant. Arxo Metals woul...
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