Malaysian project not abandonment of local beneficiation – ARM
African Rainbow Minerals ferrous division CE Jan Steenkamp tells Mining Weekly Online’s Martin Creamer that the company’s investment in a joint venture manganese alloy smelting facility in the Sarawak State of Malaysia is a small part of a longer-term South African beneficiation plan. Photographs: Duane Daws. Video: Nicholas Boyd. Editing: Darlene Creamer.
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The new manganese alloy smelting project in Malaysia was not an abandonment of the company’s commitment to viable beneficiation, African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) ferrous division CE Jan Steenkamp said on Monday.
Steenkamp was answering questions after ARM posted 8% higher headline earnings for the year to June 30, which saw its share price rise 4% to R196 a share. (Also watch attached video).
“We’re not walking away from local beneficiation,” Steenkamp assured, in giving the compelling reasons why ARM, in joint venture with Assmang, would be constructing a 160 000 t/y, $328-million manganese alloy smelting facility in Sarawak, Malaysia, together with China Steel Corporation and Sumitomo Corporation.
Assmang will supply South African manganese ore for the project; China Steel will buy an estimated 30 000 t/y of the manganese alloys produced; and Sumitomo Corporation will coordinate the project and sell manganese alloy in specific markets.
The company is also working on another investment, the details of which are not yet in the public domain, to find solutions for profitable local beneficiation on a larger scale, with the help of new research and development.
In the meantime ARM is holding on to the advantage of retaining integrated production boosted by high-grade South African manganese and will continue the search for longer-term solutions.
An attractive 15-year electricity supply agreement, at a fixed 2.5% escalation clause, has been concluded in Malaysia, where the electricity is already 12% to 15% cheaper than in South Africa.
The project has also managed to clinch the last distribution capacity from the first phase of the new hydro power station.
Failure to go ahead with the integration Malaysian opportunity would have resulted in the closure of local plants and the loss of jobs at both plant and mine levels, Steenkamp told Mining Weekly Online.
“Our commitment to local beneficiation continues,” ARM executive chairperson Patrice Motsepe said, on the basis of it being globally competitive and profitable.
The company’s South African smelters have been hit by weak market demand, which has led to two furnaces being placed on care and maintenance.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation