29th Nov 2005 13:09
Petra Diamonds Ld29 November 2005 29 November 2005 Petra Diamonds Limited 76 Carat Diamond recovered Petra Diamonds Limited ("Petra" or "the Company"), the AIM-quoted and ASX-listeddiamond mining group, announces the recovery of a 76 carat diamond from theSedibeng mine in South Africa. When sold, it is expected that the stone willrealise a sales value of approximately US$500,000. The same mining complex produced several large stones last year, one of whichwas a 57 carat stone that sold for US$489,000 and a 42 carat stone that sold forUS$282,000. Adonis Pouroulis, Chairman of Petra, commented, "We are delighted to announcethe production of this exceptional stone. The Sedibeng mine has consistentlyproduced high-quality diamonds and recoveries of such special stones combinedwith the growth in total carat production means that the South Africanoperations will continue to generate increasing revenues for the group." Ends For further information, please contact: Parkgreen Communications, London Justine Howarth / Annabel Leather Tel +44 20 7493 3713 Petra Diamonds, Perth John Baillie Tel +61 8 9381 8888 Field PR, Adelaide Kevin Skinner Tel +61 8 8234 9555 Mobile +61 414 822 631 Notes to Editors: Sedibeng mine (Messina and Dancarl operations) Located in the Warrenton District, Northern Cape Province in South Africa, theSedibeng diamond mine property (composed of the Messina and Dancarl operations)is composed of mining leases, diamond rights, surface rights and free holdingson various farms in the Northern Cape Province. The fissure system consists ofthree distinct vertical units which range in width between 20 and 110centimetres and averages 55 centimetres. In February 2005, Snowden Mining Industry Consultants published an updated OreReserve Statement for the Messina portion of the mine. The ore reserve, afterapplying the JORC guidelines, has been estimated to be 436,000 hoisted run ofmine (ROM) tones grading 28 cpht. Messina produced around 25,000 carats in the2004 calendar year at an average price of US$259 per carat running at an averagegrade of 25 cpht. The Dancarl portion of the Sedibeng mine was purchased from De Beers inSeptember 2004 by way of a JV between Crown Diamonds and Sedibeng Mining,Petra's Black Economic Empowerment partner in South Africa. In February 2005,Snowden Mining Industry Consultants published an updated Mineral ResourceStatement for the Dancarl Mine. Snowden elected to classify the fissure resourceat Dancarl as inferred. The inferred resource, after applying the JORCguidelines, has been estimated to be 483,000 fissure tonnes grading 70 cpht. Messina and Dancarl are expected to produce at least 35,000 carats in FY 2005 /2006 as underground mining gets underway at Dancarl and the ground is mined fromMessina infrastructure. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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