Tharisa has secured a special mining lease for its Karo Platinum project in Zimbabwe after agreeing on fiscal terms with the government.The special mining lease gives Karo long-term mining rights over 23,903ha and sets out the fiscal and operating terms under which the project will be developed. Granted under Zimbabwe’s Mines and Minerals Act, the lease has an initial term of 25 years.The signing ceremony was attended by Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa in Harare on Monday.Karo Platinum is 85% owned by Karo Mining Holdings, in which Tharisa holds a 78.17% stake. The Zimbabwean government owns the remaining 15% through Generation Minerals, its holding entity in Karo Platinum.Tharisa said the agreement provides the tenure and fiscal terms needed to progress Karo towards production. CEO Phoevos Pouroulis said the project remained central to the company’s 2030 strategy.Karo is located on Zimbabwe’s Great Dyke and has an open-pit mineral reserve of 2.1-million ounces (Moz) of platinum group metals (PGMs), measured on a four-element basis covering platinum, palladium, rhodium and gold, alongside a mineral resource of 11.2Moz.More than $240m (about R3.84bn) has been invested in developing the project to date, according to Tharisa.Phase one is designed to produce 226,000 ounces of PGMs. The company said potential underground mining could support a mine life of more than 50 years.Tharisa has been developing Karo as part of its plans to expand its PGM production. The company did not provide a targeted first production date in the announcement. The Zimbabwean government’s interest is held on a free-carried basis, meaning it does not fund its share of project development costs under the ownership structure outlined by Tharisa.Business Day