African Rainbow and Assore Ltd.â??s (ASR) Assmang unit produces manganese in the country, which has the world’s largest reserves of the steelmaking ingredient. Transnet Holdings SOC Ltd., the state-owned ports and rail operator, is spending about 16.9 billion rand on rail lines from the Kalahari Basin to a new, manganese terminal at the southern port of Ngqura to meet transport needs of miners.

African Rainbow “and Transnet continue to engage regarding future export capacity and growth for both iron ore and manganese ore,” the company said.

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Assore and African Rainbow approved expansion of the Black Rock mine to raise manganese output to 4.6 million tons annually from 3.2 million tons. About 900 million rand has been spent on the first phase of the project, with a further 1.7 billion rand planned.

Earnings at African Rainbow’s platinum unit increased 68 percent to 883 million rand. The company has joint ventures with Anglo American Platinum Ltd. and Impala Platinum Holdings ltd.

African Rainbow impaired 510 million rand on its stake in Harmony Gold Mining Co. (HAR) after the company wrote off the value of its Phakisa mine in the Free State province by 1.4 billion rand after saying the expense of expanding the operation was too high.

• [Editor:Sophie]