Johannesburg — DIVERSIFIED miner African Rainbow Minerals yesterday underlined an "aggressive growth strategy" at its annual results presentation, in which it announced headline earnings down 26% following lower commodity prices and a stronger rand-dollar exchange rate.

Despite the decline in headline earnings to R1,7bn from R2,3bn a year ago for the year to June, the company expressed strong confidence in its growth profile, with capital expenditure increasing further and a strong supply of new projects in the pipeline.

Sales increased from R10bn to R11bn, and headline earnings per share decreased 26% from 1094c to 807c. The company declared a dividend of 200c per share, up from 175c last year.

A feature of the results was the conclusion of the 2x2010 project , in terms of which the company planned to double production from 2005. Executive chairman Patrice Motsepe said the company had delivered on this strategy and was "continuing with an aggressive growth strategy in our portfolio of commodities".

The company's financial position remains robust, he said.

It plans to spend about R10bn over the next three years.

CEO André Wilkens said that the company's three new mines, which are ramping up, were coming into steady state production at an opportune time.

During the year, the company completed the expansion of its Khumani iron-ore mine to 10-million tons a year, commissioned a 375000 tons a month plant at the Nkomati nickel operations, and its Goedgevonden coal mine is ramping up to its name plate capacity of a saleable 6,7-million tons a 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, began this month, with full output likely in 2015.

Mr Wilkens said the company was well-positioned financially and its growth supported by a robust balance sheet with low gearing. The company announced that it had cash and cash equivalents on its balance sheet of about R3bn and an low net debt to equity of 1,7%

"We believe demand for ferrous commodities will be driven by the development of steel manufacturing capacity in China, India, Brazil and other developing economies seeking to build infrastructure, while supply growth will be constrained by infrastructure limitations," Mr Wilkens said.