African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) is a diversified South African mining group with interests in iron ore, manganese, chrome, platinum group metals, nickel and coal. ARM funds students through what it calls corporate and mine bursary programmes, but in practice the adverts students can apply to come from individual ARM operations. ARM’s careers site has a bursaries page, yet on 1 October 2026 it carried no advert, and no ARM operation had published a round for the 2027 academic year.
Why ARM bursaries come from its mines
ARM runs much of its business through joint ventures, and the bursary adverts on ARM’s website come from those operations. ARM posts the mine adverts as PDF files on its website, each with its own fields, closing date and application address. At the launch of a joint virtual centre with the University of Pretoria in October 2024, ARM Ferrous chief executive André Joubert said ARM was funding about 50 undergraduate and postgraduate students across its corporate and mine schemes. ARM’s transformation page counts 1 470 bursaries granted, most of them to students from communities near its mines.
The most recent advert: Two Rivers Platinum
Two Rivers Platinum Mine, a joint venture managed by ARM (54%) with Impala Platinum (46%) near Burgersfort in Limpopo, published the latest ARM-hosted bursary programme. It closed on 28 February 2026 and covered:
- Mining engineering
- Metallurgical engineering
- Mechanical engineering
- Electrical engineering
- Information technology
Two Rivers asked for South African citizens already registered for a degree at a DHET-accredited institution, together with a completed application form (Form A). Applicants emailed a CV and certified qualifications to Two Rivers’ recruitment address, talent@trp.co.za, and had to be ready for assessments plus possible credit, criminal and reference checks. Two Rivers gave preference to designated groups in line with the Mining Charter and its employment equity plan.
Earlier adverts from ARM operations
- Black Rock Mine Operations (Assmang manganese, near Kuruman in the Northern Cape) offered bursaries in mechanical engineering, mine survey and occupational hygiene, closing on 31 July 2024. It covered tuition, accommodation, a laptop and prescribed books, and favoured applicants from the John Taolo Gaetsewe district.
- Modikwa Platinum Mine ran a 2024 bursary for students already studying full time, across fields from engineering and geology to social work and law, closing on 31 January 2024.
Two of these three adverts funded only students already enrolled at a university, and all three favoured local or designated-group applicants. Closing dates fell in January, February and July, so an ARM round can appear at almost any point in the year.
Keeping track of the next ARM round
Check the ARM bursaries page on arm.co.za and ARM’s careers section regularly, and read each mine advert carefully, because the application address changes from operation to operation. Some mines take email applications while Assmang uses its own careers website. ARM’s site does not publish a central bursary email address, so be wary of any address you find elsewhere that ARM has not printed in an advert.
More funders tied to ARM’s operations
Black Rock bursaries have their own page: the Assmang Black Rock Mine Operations bursary. For sector-wide funding, read about the MQA bursary, or browse the engineering bursaries list.