Dry season, maintenance extend decline in operating rates across silicon plants

Eastern Platinum Limited (TSX: ELR; JSE: EPS) reported chrome concentrate production of 14,921 mt at its Crocodile River Mine (CRM) in the second quarter of 2026, down 24.5% from 19,768 mt in the second quarter of 2025, with average chrome grade broadly stable at 40.38% versus 40.74% a year earlier. Interim CEO Charlie Liu said the quarter was challenging, as monthly run-of-mine processing tonnages at CRM came in lower than targeted, and said the company will continue to focus on operational efficiencies to improve PGM and chrome production. Revenue for the quarter fell 25.8% to $7.9 million from $10.7 million in the prior-year period, driven by reduced sales volumes of both platinum-group metals and chrome concentrates. Net loss attributable to equity shareholders widened to $6.1 million, or $0.03 per share, from $1.8 million in the second quarter of 2025. Mine operating income swung to a loss of $4.2 million from a profit of $0.36 million a year earlier, with gross margin falling to -53% from 3%. For the six months ended June 30, 2026, revenue declined 14.8% to $21.7 million from $25.5 million in the same period of 2025, while mine operating loss narrowed slightly to $3.6 million from $4.3 million, aided by a marginal improvement in gross margin to -16.4% from -16.9%. CRM, on the western limb of South Africa's Bushveld Complex near Brits, produces PGM and chrome concentrates as co-products from ore mined at the Zandfontein underground section. The majority of Eastplats' revenue, approximately 78% in the second quarter and 80% year-to-date, comes from PGM concentrate sales to Impala Platinum under existing offtake agreements, with chrome concentrate sales making up the remainder. The company did not disclose a specific breakdown of revenue attributable to chrome concentrate sales alone within the reported figures.

Zimbabwe's National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) has increased its operational capacity following the refurbishment of 100 high-sided wagons and three locomotives under a US$2.8 million public-private partnership with ferrochrome producer Zimasco. The refurbished rolling stock was commissioned in Harare on Thursday by Transport Minister Felix Mhona. Mhona described the partnership as an innovative financing model that revives idle railway assets without placing an immediate burden on the Treasury, while securing a reliable export route for Zimasco's chrome through the ports of Beira and Maputo. "This partnership exemplifies a win-win financial engineering model. By funding the overhaul of idle wagons in exchange for freight charge offsets, Zimasco has secured a reliable supply chain route to international markets," Mhona said, adding that NRZ had expanded its operational capacity without an immediate fiscal burden on the Treasury. The minister described rail as the cheapest and safest mode of moving bulk cargo, saying the investment would help ease logistics bottlenecks, protect rehabilitated roads from damage caused by heavy trucks, and improve the competitiveness of Zimbabwean chrome exports. He urged other mining companies to adopt similar partnership models, noting that government, working with the Mutapa Investment Fund, is pursuing larger rail recapitalisation projects, including track and signalling upgrades and new locomotives through Afreximbank. Separately, Mhona said US$10 million had been secured for the Chicualacuala-Plumtree and Machipanda-Harare railway lines through tripartite cooperation involving Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Botswana, and that cooperation with South Africa on the North-South Corridor had also been revived.

Published: Sep 18, 2026