African Rainbow Minerals is a mining company based in South Africa. Patrice Motsepe

Patrice Motsepe

Patrice Tlhopane Motsepe is a South African mining magnate and 'oligarch' as he was major beneficiary of the South African governments Black Economic Empowerment policies. His company, African Rainbow Minerals, has interests in gold, ferrous metals, base metals, and platinum...

 is chairman; André Wilkens is CEO.

ARM has interests in a wide range of mines, including platinum

Platinum

Platinum is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Pt and an atomic number of 78. Its name is derived from the Spanish term platina del Pinto, which is literally translated into "little silver of the Pinto River." It is a dense, malleable, ductile, precious, gray-white transition metal...

 and PGM

PGM

- Science :* Phosphoglycerate mutase, an enzyme that catalyses step 8 of glycolysis* Platinum group metals, six metallic elements grouped together on the periodic table of the elements- Computing :* Portable graymap, a graphics file format...

s, iron

Iron

Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...

, coal

Coal

Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...

, copper

Copper

Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...

, and gold

Gold

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...

. ARM's Goedgevonden coalmine near Witbank

Witbank

Witbank , also known as eMalahleni is a city situated on the Highveld of Mpumalanga, South Africa, within the eMalahleni Local Municipality. The name Witbank is Afrikaans for White Ridge and is named after a white sandstone outcrop where wagon transport drivers rested...

 is a flagship of their joint venture with Xstrata

Xstrata

Xstrata plc is a global mining company headquartered in Zug, Switzerland and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is a major producer of coal , copper, nickel, primary vanadium and zinc and the world's largest producer of ferrochrome...

, and produces 6.7 million tons of coal per year. Production is expanding at the Two Rivers platinum mine in Mpumalanga

Mpumalanga

Mpumalanga , is a province of South Africa. The name means east or literally "the place where the sun rises" in Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, north of KwaZulu-Natal and bordering Swaziland and Mozambique. It constitutes 6.5% of South Africa's land area...

. ARM owns Harmony Gold, a gold mining firm with three mining operations in South Africa.

Expansion outside South Africa

In August 2010, ARM entered a $380 million joint venture with Vale to build a copper mine in Zambia

Zambia

Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....

, which is expected to produce 100,000 tons of copper. In 2009, ARM was reported to be planning $1.12 billion investments in mining in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...

. ARM also has a 50% stake in Morobe Mining Joint Ventures (MMJV) of Papua New Guinea. MMJV has operations in Hidden Valley and Wafi-Golpu in Morobe Province

Morobe Province

Morobe Province is a province on the northern coast of Papua New Guinea. The provincial capital, and largest city, is Lae. The province covers 34,500 km², including 719 km² maritime area, with a population of 539,725...

 approximately 50 kilometers south-west of Lae

Lae

Lae, the capital of Morobe Province, is the second-largest city in Papua New Guinea. It is located at the start of the Highlands Highway which is the main land transport corridor from the Highlands region to the coast...

, Papua New Guinea.

History

ARM was founded by Patrice Motsepe as South Africa's first black-owned mining company, although he is thought to have benefited from political connections when the ANC

ANC

ANC commonly refers to the African National Congress, a revolutionary movement which became the ruling political party in South Africa in the 1994 election.ANC may also refer to:-Organizations:...

 took power and enacted laws on black ownership of industries. The South African government continues to exert pressure to increase black ownership of mining companies.

In 2009, ARM joined the International Council on Mining and Metals

International Council on Mining and Metals

The International Council on Mining and Metals is composed of 18 mining companies. The council was formed in October 2001 to comply with the mission set forth in the Global Mining Initiative. Criticism of lack of oversight in industrial mining operations from environmental and social groups...

.

External links

• African Rainbow Minerals website
• News articles on African Rainbow Minerals