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Johannesburg - South African diversified miner African Rainbow Minerals [JSE:ARM] said on Tuesday that its first-half earnings had dropped by a third, hurt by a fall in iron ore prices and by rising costs.
ARM, which has interests in nickel, coal, platinum, iron ore, chrome and manganese, said headline earnings per share for the six months to end-December had fallen to 654 cents a share, from a restated 937c per share a year earlier.
Sales of iron ore increased 10% to 7.4 million tonnes, but the company received less for each tonne as dollar prices for the steel-making ingredient fell 28%.
Ferrous metals, which include iron ore, are the largest contributors to the earnings of the group, which has a market value of R42bn.
ARM's board has approved the start of a R5.8bn project that will expand its Black Rock Mine manganese production from 3 to 4 million tonnes a year over the next four years.
ARM said it is focusing on growth of production in iron ore, nickel, coal and copper.
"A positive development since the end of the reporting period has been the recovery in iron ore, platinum group and manganese ore prices," the company said.
ARM's shares have gained 1.6% in the last 12 months, outperforming the Johannesburg bourse's resources index , which has lost 8.2% over the same period.
