South Africa-based Tharisa has announced plans to invest $547m (R9.46bn) in an underground platinum group metals (PGM) mining project over the next ten years.  

The company plans to shift its declining open-pit PGM and chrome co-producing Tharisa mine, located on the Bushveld complex, to underground mining within the next decade. 

Tharisa CEO Phoevos Pouroulis said: “The underground project is the natural progression for our operations and has been established to increase the life-of-mine development to access the multigenerational mineral resource base, enhance operational efficiencies, while maintaining our world class standards of health, safety, environmental stewardship and further enhancing our track record of long-term value creation.”  

Pouroulis added that PGMs remain "critical metals and minerals that the world has realised are a necessity to transition to a future world". 

Although there are concerns that PGMs, primarily used in autocatalysts to reduce vehicle emissions, might be at risk due to the rise in electric vehicle adoption, these metals are still deemed valuable for fuel cell technologies and clean hydrogen applications, reported Reuters. 

The new mechanised underground operations aim to enhance efficiencies, lower costs and boost output. Ore delivery from the first of two shafts is expected to begin by the second quarter of 2026. 

In a steady condition, the underground operations are expected to produce a minimum of 200,000oz of PGMs and more than two million tonnes (mt) of chrome concentrate each year. 

For the financial year 2025, Tharisa projects production of 140,000–160,000oz of PGMs and between 1.65 million and 1.8mt of chrome concentrates. 

In addition to this project, Tharisa is developing the 226,000oz-per-year open-pit Karo platinum mine in Zimbabwe. 

This is considered to be one of the only two greenfield mine development projects within the platinum industry, the other being Ivanhoe's Platreef mine in South Africa.