Petra Diamonds increased its output in the first half of the fiscal year (FY) 2024 by 2% to 1.43 million carats, mainly due to resuming operations at Williamson in Tanzania and an increased run-of-mine (ROM) contribution at Finsch, partially offset by slightly lower grades at the Cullinan Mine in South Africa.
Company chief executive Richard Duffy said they remain on track to meet their FY 2024 production guidance of between 2.9 million and 3.2 million carats.
However, this will be towards the lower end of guidance.
Petra said its first-half revenue amounted to $187.8 million, compared to $208.5 million a year earlier.
It said like-for-like prices were down 13.3% compared to the first half of FY 2023 sales, with the balance of price movements attributable to product mix.
The company’s consolidated net debt increased to $212.3 million as of December 31, 2023, from $176.8 million at the end of June 2023.
It said the decline was due to the timing of closing the company's sales tenders, the continued lower diamond pricing environment, working capital funding for the resumption of mining at Williamson, and the increasing capital expenditure profile to extend the life of operations at Cullinan Mine and Finsch.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
