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Gold/Mining/Energy : Mining News of Note -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LoneClone who wrote (66657)	8/31/2010 10:14:24 AM
From: LoneClone	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 194999

UPDATE 1-SAfrican ARM FY earnings down, optimistic on next yr Mon Aug 30, 2010 5:50am GMT af.reuters.com * FY headline EPS 807 cts vs 1,094 cts in 2009 * Results hit by strong rand, lower prices for some metals * Sees steel manufacturing supporting ferrous demand (Adds details) JOHANNESBURG, Aug 30 (Reuters) - South African diversified miner African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) (ARIJ.J: Quote) on Monday reported a 26 percent drop in full-year headline earnings, hit by a strong rand and lower prices for iron ore and manganese. ARM, which has interests in nickel, coal, iron ore, platinum, chrome and manganese, said headline earnings per share for the full year fell to 807 cents from 1,094 cents the previous period. Headline earnings are the main profit gauge in South Africa and exclude certain one-off, financial and non-trading items. "ARM's headline earnings were negatively impacted by both lower U.S. dollar commodity prices, especially in iron ore and manganese, as well as the strengthening of the average rand exchange rate against the dollar by 16 percent relative to (financial year 2009)," it said in a statememt. Sales for the year rose for all of its commodities except for thermal coal sold domestically. The company said it was confident demand from the steel manufacturing industry in China, India and Brazil would drive demand for ferrous commodities, while supply growth remains constrained by infrastructure limitations. "Our three new mines which are currently ramping up are coming into steady state production at an opportune time," it said, referring to its growth projects underway. During the year, ARM completed the expansion of its Khumani iron ore mine to 10 million tonnes per year, commissioned a 375,000 tonnes per month plant at the Nkomati nickel operations, and its Goedgevonden coal mine is ramping up to its name plate capacity of saleable 6.7 million tonnes per year. The miner also said on Friday that the construction of a new copper mine in Zambia, which it is developing with Brazil's Vale (VALE5.SA: Quote), has begun in August, with full output eyed in 2015. [ID:nLDE67Q1GI] "We will increase our copper exposure in order to take advantage of the improved prices," it said in the results statement. The company said it sees a capital spend of about 10 billion rand ($1.36 billion) over the next three years to June 2013. ARM declared a dividend of 200 cents per share, up from 175 cents in the comparable period. (Reporting by Agnieszka Flak)