South Africa’s African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) is making bold moves in the copper space, and its alignment with Harmony Gold underscores just how serious the mining group is about playing for the long-term, green-economy game.
At a Bloomberg-hosted event this month, Patrice Motsepe, chairman of ARM, laid out a multibillion-dollar joint copper venture in Papua New Guinea (PNG) with Newmont Corporation. This could become one of their most significant investments in critical minerals yet.
ARM frames this as a long-term, sustainability-aligned bet. Motsepe tied the PNG project explicitly to global decarbonisation trends and the surging demand for critical minerals such as copper. In his words, it is “a long-term strategy”, one that positions ARM as a player in the transition to a low-carbon world.
ARM has R13-billion in cash on hand, plus a further R7-billion in undrawn credit facilities, Motsepe added. He emphasised that a significant portion of that liquidity will be earmarked for copper-rich regions such as Australia and PNG, reflecting a deliberate pivot in their capital-allocation strategy.
“There’s a huge investment that we are looking at in Papua New Guinea,” Motsepe said. “We’ve got a partnership there with Newmont that might require as much as four or five billion dollars to be invested down the line.”
Harmony, under Motsepe’s 10.9% holding influence, is itself making a serious copper pivot.
The company holds a 50% interest in the tier-1 Wafi-Golpu copper-gold project in PNG, in a joint venture with Newmont. Motsepe has highlighted that the same capital ARM is building will likely support Harmony’s future copper investments.
Harmony’s long-term plan is to fundamentally transform itself into a global gold and copper producer. Motsepe has said that investments in copper (in PNG and Australia) are not
peripheral but central to Harmony’s future.
Copper is used in electronic vehicles, tech, water, renewables and grid infrastructure, making it a linchpin in the energy transition and decarbonisation.
Although South Africa’s copper sector remains modest, production rose by 6.7% year on year in July, with copper commodity sales up 19.7%, according to Statistics South Africa. This critical mineral also directly employs about 8 000 people in the country across value chains.
South Africa’s Just Energy Transition (JET) framework has repeatedly stressed that the country cannot abandon mining; it must redefine it. Critical minerals such as copper, manganese, nickel and PGMs are meant to form the backbone of a new industrial strategy that supports green manufacturing, grid modernisation and battery value chains. By expanding aggressively into copper while maintaining strong domestic portfolios, ARM and Harmony are positioning South African mining as a strategic contributor to the global low-carbon economy.
Globally, the International Energy Agency forecasts that copper demand for clean energy technologies will double by 2040, driven by grid expansion, electric vehicles, and renewable power systems.
In Africa, the copper market is projected to reach three million tonnes by 2035. Analysts at S&P Global Market Intelligence warn of a potential 6.5-million-tonne
supply deficit by the early 2030s unless new large-scale mines come online.
ARM and Harmony’s overseas copper push ensures that South African miners remain competitive at a time when global supply chains are rapidly reshaping around energy-transition minerals. And ultimately, these deals reinforce that South Africa cannot meet its JET ambitions without reliable access to copper.
