African Rainbow Minerals Limited
African Rainbow Minerals Limited, ARM, is a leading, niche-diversified mining and minerals company, based in Johannesburg, South Africa, with excellent long-life low-cost assets in key commodities.
The company owns and operates its assets and exercises a strategic influence on the boards of those companies in which it has an interest. ARM’s unique management style is supported by experience and a focus on entrepreneurship, which adds significant value to its business. An integral part of ARM’s business is the forging of partnerships with key players in the various sectors to ensure that ARM is at the forefront of technological development and global practices, and has access to key markets and to value-generating growth opportunities.
ARM in its current form was formed in May 2004, to explore, develop, operate and hold significant interests in the South and southern African mining industry. The company has five areas of interest namely:
ferrous metals though its holding in Assmang Limited;
platinum group metals (PMGs) and nickel held through a range of joint ventures and partnerships;
coal, through its interest in Xstrata Coal South Africa;
copper, cobalt and other base metals outside of South Africa, through TEAL Exploration & Mining Incorporated (TEAL);
gold, through its interest in Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited (Harmony).
ARM’s history though goes back much further, to 1933 when the Anglo-Transvaal Consolidated Investment Company Limited was incorporated as a mining, finance and industrial holding company. That group was unbundled in 1998, allowing Anglovaal Limited to focus on its core mining operations through Anglovaal Mining Limited (Avmin).
In 1994, ARM Executive Chairman Patrice Motsepe started Future Mining, a contract mining company which, following a series of acquisitions of gold interests from Anglo American Corporation of South Africa Limited, led to the formation of ARMgold Limited. The gold assets of ARMgold were listed in May 2002, while the platinum assets were bolstered with the development of Modikwa Platinum in a joint venture with Anglo Platinum Limited in 2001.
In May 2003, ARMgold merged with Harmony to create the world’s sixth largest gold company and, in May 2004 a range of indivisible transactions involving certain interests of Avmin, ARMgold and Harmony resulted in the formation of two entities – Harmony Gold in its current form, and ARM.
In November 2005, ARM listed TEAL Exploration & Mining Incorporated (TEAL), on the Toronto Stock Exchange and later on the JSE Limited, into which ARM’s non-South African exploration portfolio was injected. This exploration portfolio includes copper projects in Zambia, a copper-cobalt project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and a gold project in Namibia.
The formation of ARM Coal, the company’s new coal investment, was announced in February 2006. ARM Coal holds a 20% interest in the existing coal operations of Xstrata Coal South Africa, and a 51% interest in an unincorporated joint venture which holds the Goedgevonden coal project. Subsequent to the financial year-end, the ARM Board approved the exercise of the option to acquire an additional 10%, directly, in Xstrata Coal South Africa, for R400 million by 1 September 2006. 
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African Rainbow Minerals
