Chunky impairments of African Rainbow Minerals’ (ARM’s) nickel and platinum mines masked what was a strong interim financial performance from the diversified mining company. ARM, which is chaired by billionaire Patrice Motsepe whose family trust is a significant shareholder of the company, reported a R734m post-tax impairment of the Modikwa platinum mine and a R711m impairment of its Nkomati nickel operation. These impairments contributed to ARM reporting a R283m loss for the six months to end-December compared with a R1.3bn loss a year earlier. Profit before tax and special items nearly doubled to R1.5bn from R769m the year before. Headline earnings increased to R1.7bn from R507m before, with ARM attributing the strong increase to its ferrous division and its Two Rivers platinum operation The coal division and Nkomati both swung to profit from losses a year earlier. ARM cautioned that Nkomati was heading for a difficult three-year period in which output would decline. The copper di...
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