LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - European resource group Tharisa announced on Tuesday that it had achieved a new record in its fourth quarter, strengthening chromium oxide run of mine grade to 18.4% as it focused on improving its drill, blast and reefing operations.
Tharisa said that it had increased reef milling, the practice of bringing the gold to the surface as small particles embedded in lumps of quarts before crushing them into a fine dust with a stamping battery, 8.4% in the three months leading to 30 September.

The 1.3 metric tonnes (mt) of reef mined and milled came about as a benefit of the increased availability and feed consistency of the run-of-mine ore and the higher level of platinum group metals recoveries at 81%.

The fully listed firm said it had also recovered record numbers of chrome concentrate production of 360.5 kilotons (kt), an 8% quarter-on-quarter increase.

Tharisa gave its final guidance for its full financial year of 150 kilo ounces of PGM and 1.4mt of chrome concentrates, with approximately 350kt of those being speciality grade chrome extracts, as it turned its attention towards further investment into research and development and innovation phases the group stated it was looking to strengthen its operational improvement and in-pit optimisation following the transition into being an owner miner.

Chief executive Phoevos Pouroulis, said, "We see more potential in the year ahead and will be embarking on unlocking greater value through the successful transition to owner mining, primarily focusing on reducing dilution and improving feed grades from within the open-pit."

Furthermore, our organic optimisation projects should yield additional recoveries, lowering our unit costs and enhancing our production going forward. We are excited by opportunities within the mining sector and look to grow our business through strategic investments and co-operation agreements leveraging off our existing infrastructure," Pouroulis added.

As of 0840 BST, shares had grown 4.51% to 106.60p.

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