Petra Diamonds’ production decreased marginally by 2% to 1.4 million carats in the first half (H1) of the financial year (FY) 2025 from 1.43 million carats a year earlier.
It produced 679,625 carats in the first quarter of FY 2025 and 720,914 carats in the second quarter of FY 2025.
“Finsch’s performance improved through the first half as mining successfully transitioned into fresher ore associated with the 78-Level Phase II, resulting in reduced dilution and more predictable operations, while Cullinan Mine and Williamson continued to perform well and according to plan,” said Petra chief executive Richard Duffy.
“At Cullinan Mine, we continued to make good progress on the CC1E development project, with the first contribution of higher grade ore taking place in the second quarter. This project is expected to ramp-up over the next 16-18 months.”
The miner said its revenue for the period amounted to $146 million from $188 million in FY 2024.
Diamond sales in H1 FY 2024 benefitted from 456,000 carats of FY 2023 sale parcels that were deferred and sold in H1 FY 2024.
It said like-for-like prices were down 10% compared to H1 FY 2024 mainly from smaller size categories.
“Our third Tender of FY 2025 showed ongoing diamond price weakness at the end of CY (calendar year) 2024, although we are encouraged by recent reports of stronger online jewellery demand in the US and stronger jewellery demand in India over the festive season and Diwali, respectively,” said Duffy.
“This, together with reduced supply from the major producers and industry-wide marketing efforts, should help rebalance inventories. On the back of the last tender results, the continued demand weakness from China and the current product mix at Finsch, we have revised our FY 2025 pricing assumptions for Finsch from $80/ct – $90/ct to $70/ct – $80/ct.”
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor-In-Chief, Rough & Polished
