Johannesburg - Diversified mining group African Rainbow Minerals [JSE:ARM] said on Monday its earnings increased by 24% as sales
volumes for all of its key commodities rose.
Sales were 30% higher at R8.72bn with volume increases in
iron ore, manganese ore, manganese alloys, platinum group metals, nickel,
chrome concentrate and thermal coal, which is sold to power utility Eskom.
The company is targeting growth through the development of
its four major projects in iron ore, nickel, coal and copper. Key among these
is the ramp-up of iron ore production to 16 million tonnes per annum at the
Khumani Mine in South Africa.
Nickel production at Nkomati is being increased to 20 500
tonnes per annum and the Goedgevonden Mine is moving towards 7.0 million tonnes
per annum.
Copper output at the Konkola North Copper project in
Democratic Republic of Congo is forecast to be 45 000 tonnes per annum at full
production.
“We are making substantial progress with our growth projects
and are excited about government’s stated commitment to allocate huge resources
to upgrade rail, port and electricity infrastructure,” said ARM executive chairperson Patrice Motsepe.
ARM warned of above-inflation increases particularly in
labour, electricity and diesel but believes commodity prices will
remain robust over the medium to long term.
Headline earnings per share were 912 cents for the six
months to end-December from 734c a year ago.
ARM’s share price is up around 11% in the year to date,
outpassing a 7.3% rise in the Johannesburg bourse’s benchmark Top 40 -
(Tradeable) [JSE:J200] index.