Releasing its unaudited results for the six-month period ended December 31, 2018, Petra Diamonds said that production rose by 10% and sales were up 15% while the net loss declined to US$ 57.9 million as compared to the loss of US$ 117.7 mn reported in the same period last year. The company said that its losses were a reflection of the lower value of the product mix at Cullinan, and the loss of US$ 39.7 mn incurred on the disposal of its Kimberley Ekapa JV and Helam operations.

Giving further details, the company said that production rose to 2,019,147 carats (H1 FY’18: 1,843,956 cts) during the period, while carats sold rose 15% to 1,736,357 (H1 FY’18: 1,510,361 carats) due to increased production.

Production reached consistent levels as the company’s main underground expansion projects are nearing completion, Petra said. The Finsch and Williamson projects both delivered solid results and production at Cullinan ramped up as expected. However, the lower value product mix delivered at Cullinan offset the impact of higher volumes as production.

The continued improvement in production saw Petra's revenue increasing 8% to US$ 207.1 million (H1 FY’18: US$ 191.8 million) despite a lower incidence of high value stones, specifically at Cullinan; weaker rough diamond prices across all the operations, and some other local factors.

Johan Dippenaar, CEO of Petra, commented: "During the second half, we will accelerate the installation of drawpoints to improve access across the full footprint of the C-Cut Phase 1 block cave. Our focus remains to continue to deliver operational- and capex efficiencies at all of our operations, in order to generate positive free cashflow and subsequent debt reduction.”

The Company also maintained full year production guidance at its earlier level of ca. 3.8 - 4.0 mn cts. It added that the first tender of H2 FY 2019 in February is in the process of being finalised; with provisional results indicating price increases of ca. 1% on a like-for-like basis compared to prices achieved in H1 FY 2019.

Petra said that two good quality pink stones (21ct and 10ct) recovered from Williamson in early 2019 are in the process of being sold as part of the February 2019 tender.

In a separate statement, the Board of Petra Diamonds announced the appointment of Richard Duffy as Chief Executive of the Company with effect from 1 April 2019.

Duffy has 27 years' experience in mining in a variety of operational and functional leadership roles at Anglo American and AngloGold Ashanti Limited and since early 2015, has been co-founder of Africa Energy Management Platform (AEMP), a company that develops, finances, builds and operates renewable and hybrid energy projects in sub-Saharan Africa.

He has extensive experience in both open pit and underground mining plus considerable experience in taking a strategic view and accountability for all corporate finance, business development and capital expenditure related matters.

Petra's Chairman, Adonis Pouroulis, commented: "We are extremely pleased that Richard will be joining Petra Diamonds. He brings with him an impressive depth of global mining experience which we believe will be critical to drive Petra's transition from a phase of intensive capital expenditure and expansion to a focus on steady-state, cash-generative operations. We are deeply grateful to Johan Dippenaar for all of the work he has done over the past 14 years to lead Petra through a long period of significant growth and establishing the Company as a leading independent diamond producer."

Richard Duffy commented: "I am delighted to have been appointed CEO of Petra Diamonds. I look forward to working with a very capable team that has grown the business and laid the foundations for delivering on the recent capital investment programme."

Johan Dippenaar will be working closely with Duffy to ensure an efficient handover in the period leading up to his appointment.

Pic caption: New CEO Richard Duffy

Pic courtesy: Petra Diamonds