African Rainbow Minerals approves Bokoni PGM upgrade and Nkomati nickel restart
2026-07-24 11:06:52 [Print]
African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) announced on Thursday that its board has greenlit a phased 15.2 billion rand ($927.28 million) upgrade to its Bokoni platinum group metals (PGM) operations, alongside the resumption of nickel mining at the Nkomati project.
The diversified miner-which also holds iron ore, manganese, and coal assets-confirmed it is restarting open-pit mining and nickel concentrate production at Nkomati following the execution of a conditional off-take agreement with Sweden's Boliden.
The Nkomati mine had been placed on care and maintenance in 2021, owing to persistent financial losses driven by rising operating costs and weak nickel prices at the time.
ARM, which assumed full ownership of Nkomati in July 2025 after former joint venture partner Nornickel exited, plans to invest approximately $46 million in the nickel restart. The operation is expected to produce 56,065 tonnes of nickel concentrate annually.
The diversified miner-which also holds iron ore, manganese, and coal assets-confirmed it is restarting open-pit mining and nickel concentrate production at Nkomati following the execution of a conditional off-take agreement with Sweden's Boliden.
The Nkomati mine had been placed on care and maintenance in 2021, owing to persistent financial losses driven by rising operating costs and weak nickel prices at the time.
ARM, which assumed full ownership of Nkomati in July 2025 after former joint venture partner Nornickel exited, plans to invest approximately $46 million in the nickel restart. The operation is expected to produce 56,065 tonnes of nickel concentrate annually.
Nickel Sulfate Ni 22%min; Co 0.05%max Delivered China
Unit:RMB/mt
China refined nickel producers' sales to production ratio statistics by province by month
Unit: %
