11th Dec 2015 07:54
LONDON (Alliance News) - Petra Diamonds Ltd on Friday said it made USD86.2 million from the sale of its latest diamond tender, including the exceptional pink stone extracted from the Williamson mine in Tanzania.
It was the company's second diamond tender in the first half of its financial year, with prices remaining broadly flat over both. Petra sold 606,080 carats for a total of USD86.2 million, including that pink stone which contributed over USD10.0 million.
Petra managed to sell most of its product in the tender apart from 3,200 carats which are estimated to have a value of around USD166,000.
Although prices in the second tender were similar to the first carried out earlier in 2015, Petra said the "expected improvement in product mix" has "favourably impacted" the average price per carat it has achieved.
Petra said rough diamond prices have fallen by around 9% since the fourth quarter of its last financial year ended June 2015, but the weakening of the South African rand has mitigated that fall, it said.
"Product mix can vary significantly from tender to tender, but Petra has guided for an improved product mix in the 2016 financial year due to the shift from the old diluted mining blocks at its underground mines in South Africa to the new undiluted mining blocks, as well as a lesser reliance on production from the group's lower value tailings resources," said the diamond miner.
Petra said the first significant input of undiluted ore is on track to begin contributing to the company's production from the second half of the current financial year, which is due to end at the end of June. It said it will provide a trading update for the half year to end December on January 25, 2016.
By Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
Petra Diamonds