AFRICAN Rainbow Minerals (ARM), the Patrice Motsepe company, confirmed it was participating in a bid to build and operate a new manganese export facility in Ngqura port in South Africa’s Eastern Cape.
Commenting in its interim results on Friday, in which it lifted interim earnings 10% to R8.66/share, ARM said as part of the Manganese Producers Consortium it would bid as a joint venture partner of Transnet for the Ngqura Manganese Ore Export Terminal in the second quarter of this year.
The MPC consists of South32, Anglo American, and Tshipi é Ntle Manganese Mining which is now controlled by Exxaro Resources. The terminal has a planned capacity of 16 million tons a year with potential to increase to 22Mt annually.
ARM’s improved numbers were largely due to the improvement in platinum group metal prices to which it has exposure through joint ventures with Anglo American in the Modikwa mine and Impala Platinum in Two Rivers.
ARM Platinum headline earnings increased by more than 200% to R704m amid a “significant increase in PGM rand basket prices”, the group said. However, the firm’s Bokoni Platinum Mines remained in mothballs. ARM shut the mine at the end of its 2025 financial year in order to improve resource and reserve development.
At the basic earnings level ARM reported a 69% year-on-year improvement to R2,35bn. The difference between headline and basic earnings was due to the inclusion of a profit on disposal of ARM’s Sakura manganese processing facility and a gain on ARM’s stake in the Nkomati nickel mine in which the group bought control in the period.
Elsewhere in ARM there was pressure. The group’s ferrous division posted a 34% decline in headline earnings driven significantly by a weaker manganese performance, while the coal division lost R271m (2025 H1: +R182m). In both divisions lower prices were blamed.
Despite this ARM announced a R5/share interim dividend (R4.50/share). Net cash increased to R8.46bn compared to R6.6bn as of June 30. ARM received a R116m dividend from its 12.1% stake in Harmony Gold.
