Sale of 342 carat White & 18 carat Blue Dia...

25 August 2021

LSE: PDL

Petra Diamonds Limited

("Petra" or the "Company" or the “Group”)

Sale of 342 carat White Diamond and 18 carat Blue Diamond

from the Cullinan Diamond Mine for a total of US$13.5 million

Petra Diamonds Limited announces that the 342.92 carat Type IIa white diamond (previously announced on 28 July 2021) and an 18.30 carat Type IIb blue diamond, both recovered at the Cullinan Diamond Mine in South Africa, have been sold into a partnership with Stargems (Pty) Ltd (“Stargems”). Petra will receive an upfront payment of US$10.0 million for the 342.92 carat stone and US$3.5 million for the 18.30 carat stone, as well as retaining a 50% interest in the profit uplift of the polished proceeds of both diamonds, after costs.

Stargems is a Johannesburg-based subsidiary of Stargems Group, an international and vertically integrated diamond company, and is a diamond beneficiation licencee, allowing for the two diamonds to be cut and polished in South Africa.

Richard Duffy, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

“These two diamonds are wonderful examples of the very high quality and rare white and blue diamonds that are so well known from the Cullinan Diamond Mine. We are delighted that both stones will be manufactured in South Africa and it is fitting that we will be working with Stargems, who specialisein the sourcing and supply of the finest diamonds to customers across the world.”

Shailesh Javeri, Chairman of Stargems Group, commented:

“It is with great honour that we have entered into a partnership arrangement with Petra on these two diamonds from the world-renowned Cullinan Diamond Mine. The stones will be beneficiated in South Africa at our Stargems cutting factory in Johannesburg and we look forward to working closely with Petra during the manufacturing process to reveal the eventual polished gems.”

Photos of the 342.92 carat diamond can be viewed at:

www.petradiamonds.com/media/image-library/diamonds.

~ Ends ~

For further information, please contact:

Petra Diamonds, London    Telephone: [phone]

Cathy Malins      [e-mail]

Marianna Bowes 

Des Kilalea  

About Petra Diamonds Limited

Petra Diamonds is a leading independent diamond mining group and a consistent supplier of gem quality rough diamonds to the international market. The Company has a diversified portfolio incorporating interests in three underground producing mines in South Africa (Finsch, Cullinan and Koffiefontein) and one open pit mine in Tanzania (Williamson).

Petra's strategy is to focus on value rather than volume production by optimising recoveries from its high-quality asset base in order to maximise their efficiency and profitability. The Group has a significant resource base of ca. 244 million carats, which supports the potential for long-life operations.

Petra strives to operate according to the highest ethical standards and will only operate in countries which are members of the Kimberley Process. The Company aims to generate tangible value for each of its stakeholders, thereby contributing to the socio-economic development of its host countries and supporting long-term sustainable operations to the benefit of its employees, partners and communities.

Petra is quoted with a premium listing on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange under the ticker 'PDL'. The Company’s US$337 million notes due in 2026 are listed on the Irish Stock Exchange and admitted to trading on the Global Exchange Market. For more information, visit www.petradiamonds.com.

Notes to Editors

About the Cullinan Diamond Mine

Located at the foothills of the Magaliesberg mountain range, 37 kilometres north-east of Pretoria in South Africa, the Cullinan Diamond Mine is one of the world's most celebrated diamond mines.

It earned its place in history with the discovery of the Cullinan diamond in 1905, the largest rough gem diamond ever found at 3,106 carats. This iconic stone was cut into the two most important diamonds which form part of the Crown Jewels in the Tower of London – the First Star of Africa, which is mounted at the top of the Sovereign’s Sceptre and which at 530 carats is the largest flawless cut diamond in the world, and the Second Star of Africa, a 317 carat polished diamond which forms the centrepiece of the Imperial State Crown.

The Cullinan Diamond Mine is renowned as a source of large, high-quality gem diamonds, including Type II stones, as well as being the world’s most important source of very rare blue diamonds.

Type II diamonds contain no detectable nitrogen in their chemical structure and tend to display exceptional transparency. Type IIa stones are generally ‘colourless’, meaning they can be the purest form of white possible. Type IIb stones contain significant amounts of boron which imparts a blue or grey colour – these stones are exceedingly rare and are believed to account for ~0.1% of all natural diamonds.

Many of the most famous diamonds in the world herald from the Cullinan Diamond Mine and it continues to produce world-class diamonds under Petra’s stewardship. Notable diamonds historically produced from the mine include:

• the Premier Rose (353 carats rough);
• the Niarchos (426 carats rough);
• the De Beers Centenary (599 carats rough);
• the Golden Jubilee (755 carats rough); and
• the Taylor-Burton diamond (69 carats polished). 

More recently, remarkable diamonds recovered by Petra at the mine include:

• the Cullinan Heritage (507 carats rough white diamond), sold for US$35.3 million in 2010;
• the Blue Moon of Josephine (29 carats rough blue diamond), sold for US$25.6 million in 2014;
• the Cullinan Dream (122 carats rough blue diamond), sold for US$25.3 million in 2016;
• the Legacy of the Cullinan Diamond Mine (424 carats rough white diamond), sold for just under US$15 million in May 2019;
• the Letlapa Tala Collection (a collection of five blue diamonds of high quality and clarity) sold for US$40.36 million in November 2020;
• a 299 carat white diamond sold for US$12.18 million in March 2021; and
• an exceptional 39.34 carat blue diamond sold for US$40.18 million in July 2021, representing a remarkable US$1.0 million per carat. This was the most valuable diamond sold in Petra’s history and is believed to be the most valuable rough stone per carat ever sold (though since not all rough diamond sales are publicly disclosed, this cannot be established with certainty).

The unique geology of the Cullinan kimberlite pipe means that the majority of its diamonds are aged between 3.2 and 1.1 billion years old – spanning a time in the Earth’s history from before the formation of the first major continents to the beginnings of multicellular life. However, Type IIb blue diamonds are so rare that their age has not been established. Recent studies on minerals trapped inside these diamonds imply that they are amongst the deepest-formed diamonds ever found, created at depths in excess of 500km below the Earth’s surface. The boron that gives their blue colour has been linked to seawater suggesting that these diamonds are a record of rocks from the ocean floor that have been transported to the lower mantle by plate tectonics, where these diamonds formed under conditions of extreme pressure and temperature.

More information on the Cullinan Diamond Mine’s unique heritage can be found at

https://www.petradiamonds.com/about-us/our-heritage/.

The Cullinan Diamond Mine is a significant employer in South Africa, with a workforce encompassing over 1,200 employees and just under 300 contractors. It plays an active role in its local communities, with a particular focus on improving education standards, supporting small to medium sized enterprises and addressing other needs deemed to be most critical to its stakeholders.

About blue diamonds

Blue diamonds are one of nature’s most special treasures. They are so rare that there are no official statistics on their recovery, however the Cullinan Mine in South Africa is known as the world’s most important source.

True miracles of nature, the captivating blue colour is produced by the presence of the trace element boron within the stone’s carbon structure during its formation deep within the Earth’s mantle.

Virtually every blue diamond described by the GIA Gem Trade Laboratory as “blue” is classified as a Type IIb diamond. Type IIb diamonds are unique in a number of their gemmological properties, such as their ability to conduct electricity and phosphoresce to short-wave UV. No known laboratory-grown or treated blue diamond displays the combination of electrical conductivity and phosphorescence seen in naturally occurring blues.

High quality blue diamonds command the very highest values, with the 12 carat polished Blue Moon of Josephine (cut from a 29 carat rough blue diamond from the Cullinan Mine) selling for US$48.5 million in 2015, representing an extraordinary +US$4 million per carat (US$20 million per gram), which remains the world record price per carat ever paid for a diamond.