Pressure on ARM Zambia division
Cato Ridge ferromanganese smelter under review too
African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) is dragging all its divisions down the cost curve, but its troublesome copper business in Zambia may not stay in the company if it underdelivers on company expectations. Another business that was coming under review is the Cato Ridge ferromanganese smelter in KwaZulu-Natal after ARM and its Chinese and Japanese partners commissioned a two-furnace ferromanganese smelter in Malaysia, which had low electricity costs and a long-term power supply agreement, said CEO Mike Schmidt. An announcement on Cato Ridge would be made before the end of 2017. Chunky impairments of ARM’s nickel and platinum mines masked what was a strong interim financial performance from the diversified mining company, with its ferrous division benefiting from higher iron ore and manganese prices, and its Two Rivers platinum operation standout performers. "Iron ore was the star performer," said Schmidt, adding the mines, equally shared with Assore in a company called Assmang, were targe...
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