South Africa’s Petra Diamonds

Petra finds 39-carat blue diamond at Cullinan mine

South Africa’s Petra Diamonds has found yet another big rock at its iconic Cullinan mine, a 39.34 carat Type IIb gem said to be of “exceptional quality” due to both its colour and clarity.

The miner didn’t indicate the diamond’s potential value but said it would sell it in a special tender.

Cullinan is known as the world’s most important source of blue diamonds, as well as being the birthplace of the 3,106-carat Cullinan diamond, which was cut to form the 530-carat Great Star of Africa.

The operation also yielded the 317-carat Second Star of Africa. They are the two largest diamonds in the British Crown Jewels.

De Beers Buys Petra Blue Diamonds for $40M

De Beers has purchased five rough blue diamonds from Petra Diamonds for more than $40 million in partnership with one of its sightholders.

The miner bought the Letlapa Tala collection together with South African wholesaler and manufacturer Diacore for $40.4 million, split equally between the two companies. The type IIb stones, which originated from Petra’s Cullinan mine in South Africa, weigh a total of 85.6 carats, with the individual diamonds ranging from 9.61 to 25.75 carats, Petra said Wednesday.

The sale price at the November 24 tender exceeded analysts’ predictions. Liberum believed the stones would fetch “in the region of $30 million to $40 million,” while Berenberg predicted approximately $26 million, they told Rapaport News.

“The result of this special tender affirms the very high value placed on blue diamonds,” said Petra CEO Richard Duffy. “We believe this to be the first time that five rough blue diamonds of significant size, color and clarity have been offered for sale at one time, and we are delighted that the collection has been bought in its entirety.”

Diacore, which specializes in manufacturing rare, fancy-color diamonds, has worked with De Beers before. It previously cut the miner’s 203.04-carat De Beers Millennium Star, and has also worked on other well-known stones, such as the CTF Pink Star, a 59.60-carat pink bought by Hong Kong jeweler Chow Tai Fook for $71.2 million in 2017. The manufacturer, with cutting facilities in Botswana, South Africa and Namibia, was also one of the pilot participants in De Beers’ Tracr blockchain initiative.

“We are excited and humbled to have the opportunity to unlock the unparalleled beauty of these rare and extraordinary natural diamonds and share them with the world,” said Paul Rowley, executive vice president of diamond trading at De Beers. “Cullinan has produced some of the most beautiful diamonds the world has ever seen, and these blue diamonds are no exception.”

De Beers and Diacore will select expert craftsmen to study and work with the diamonds before presenting them to the public, De Beers added.

De Beers previously owned the Cullinan mine. It sold the deposit to Petra for $149 million in 2007.

Source: Diamonds.net

Petra Diamonds sells Botswana exploration assets

Petra Diamonds (PDL.L) has agreed to sell its Botswanan exploration assets to Botswana Diamonds (BODP.L) for $300,000 and a 5% royalty on future revenue, the diamond miner, which is in the process of restructuring, said on Monday.

The purchase price will be payable in two equal instalments on or before August 31, 2021 and August 31, 2022, Petra said. Botswana Diamonds has the option to buy out the royalty for $2 million in cash.

Petra’s subsidiary Sekaka Diamonds Exploration (Pty) Limited, which Botswana Diamonds would take over, holds three prospecting licences including the KX36 project, which has an indicated resource of 17.9 million tonnes at 35 carats per hundred tonnes.

Botswana Diamonds managing director James Campbell said KX36 would be the company’s most advanced project in southern Africa, and Sekaka’s exploration database would also be “hugely complementary” to its current activities.

Petra, which has been planning to sell Sekaka since June 2018, said the deal is separate to the sales process it announced last month as part of its restructuring.

“The first tranche of the purchase consideration is not expected to be received until August 2021, making the sale too long-dated to help with Petra’s immediate cash flow challenges,” said BMO analyst Edward Sterck.

The sale still requires approval from the Botswana Competition Commission, ministerial consent in Botswana, and approval from Petra’s lenders and debtholders.

Campbell said he hopes the deal will be sealed by August 31.

Petra Diamonds H1 Production Up, but Revenue Down

Petra Diamonds Limited has announced that while its production for the six months ended December 2019 was up 3 percent to 2,070,240 carats (H1 FY 2019: 2,019,147 carats), revenue for the same period was down 6 percent. Revenue fell to $193.9 million from 1,743,807 carats (H1 FY 2019: $207.1 million from 1,736,357 carats).

The decline in revenue comes from lower diamond prices and the adverse product mix at Finsch and Williamson. This was, however, partially offset by the sale of the 20.08-carat blue diamond from Cullinan for $14.9 million.

The company is currently on track to meet or exceed its FY 2020 production guidance of ca. 3.8 Mcts.

In addition, Petra said it saw growing stability in pricing as the calendar year closed and that demand has continued to improve as the midstream looks to replenish inventory with early indications that rough pricing has improved modestly in the third quarter of 2020. .

Petra reported that its net debt as of December 31, 2019 stood at $596.4 million

(September 30, 2019: $592.8 million). It also reported a diamond inventory of 992,425 carats valued at $85.2 million compared to $92.4 million for September 30, 2019.

Source: IDEX

Petra Diamonds’ revenues decline

Petra Diamonds Limited lost some of their lustre, sliding 5.3% to 7.65p after the diamond miner underwhelmed with a trading update.

Revenue in the three months to the end of September – the first quarter of the company’s fiscal year – was down 23% to US$61.6 million from US$80.2 million in the same period of 2018.

The company sold 603,626 carats, compared to 626,541 a year earlier, at prices roughly 4% lower than in the three months to the end of June.

Petra Diamonds shares jump after another discovery at Cullinan

Cullinan-mine-100-carat-D-Colour-Type-II

South Africa’s Petra Diamonds has found a 100.83 carat gem quality diamond at its iconic Cullinan mine in South Africa.

The D colour, Type II diamond follows the recent recovery of a 6.12 carat Type II blue stone, also at Cullinan.

The company has piled up debt after building a new plant and digging deeper at its flagship Cullinan diamond mine.“The recoveries demonstrate the prevalence of these types of stones in the Cullinan orebody as well as the ability of the mine’s plant to recover the full spectrum of diamonds,” Petra said.

The company, which appointed last month former gold miner Richard Duffy as chief executive, said that both stones would be included in its upcoming March tender.

Shares climbed as much as 10.5% after the announcement, closing at 21.2p in London on Friday.

Petra has been seeking to turn around its fortunes after piling up debt to expand Cullinan, where the world’s biggest ever diamond was found in 1905.

Source: mining.com