25th May 2016 15:12
LONDON (Alliance News) - Petra Diamonds PLC is set to book a sizeable profit from the sale of the latest exceptional diamond to come out of its Cullinan mine in South Africa when the Cullinan Dream is auctioned off in New York next month.
Petra Diamonds holds a 74% stake in the Cullinan mine near Pretoria, a diamond mine renowned for producing rare diamonds, including the largest rough gem diamond ever found, which now forms part of the crown jewels in the Royal Collection held by Queen Elizabeth II.
The miner found a notable diamond in the mine back in June 2014, a 122.5 carat blue diamond, which was sold into a cutting and polishing partnership in September 2014 for a total of USD23.5 million.
It has since been cut into four large diamonds - the Cullinan Dream being the largest of the four. The Cullinan Dream is a cut-cornered rectangular mixed-cut fancy intense blue diamond weighing over 24.1 carats. It is also mounted in platinum, inscribed with its name, and flanked with smaller diamonds.
Fancy colour diamonds are rare and are popular and known for having intense or vivid colours. The Cullinan Dream is classified as a Type IIb diamond, which are very rare and account for less than 0.5% of all the diamonds found in nature, according to Petra.
The other three diamonds cut from the 122.5 carat diamond consisted of a 7.0 carat cushion-cut diamond, a radiant-cut diamond of 10.3 carats, and a 11.3 carat pear-shaped diamond - meaning together the four diamonds weigh a total of 69.8 carats.
The Cullinan Dream will be sold at Rockefeller Centre in New York on June 9, with viewings available during the six days before Christie's 'Magnificent Jewels & The Cullinan Dream' auction is held.
Petra Diamonds is expecting The Cullinan Dream to fetch between USD23.0 million and USD29.0 million at the auction, and importantly, the company is entitled to 15% of the proceeds - suggesting it will secure between USD3.4 to USD4.4 million if the diamond sells within that range.
The Cullinan mine has produced some of the rarest and most famous diamonds in history, the most notable of which is the largest rough gem diamond to have ever been discovered at 3,106.0 carats. That gem was cut into two, The 530.0 carat First Star of Africa and the 317.0 Second Star of Africa, both of which form part of the Crown Jewels.
Although the mine has been producing renowned diamonds for decades, Petra only acquired the asset back in 2008 and has produced some its own significant and record-breaking blue diamonds.
Petra found the Blue Moon of Josephine, a 12.0 carat polished stone that sold for USD48.5 million back in November 2015. That set a new world record for holding the highest value per carat of over USD4.0 million and holds the title as the second most expensive cut diamond to ever be sold at auction.
Petra also was responsible for the Star of Josephine, a 7.0 carat polished stone that was sold for USD9.5 million. That was the world record for price per carat of USD1.4 million at the time.
Petra Diamonds shares were down 1.7% to 117.50 pence per share on Wednesday afternoon.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance. Updated by Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
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