Alto Cuilo Update

Petra Diamonds Ld
30 March 2004

30 March 2004



                             Petra Diamonds Limited

                      Alto Cuilo - update and appointments

Petra Diamonds Limited ('Petra' or 'the Company'), the AIM quoted mining group,
advises of the following developments with regards to the Alto Cuilo project in
North Eastern Angola.

The diamond core drill has been successfully commissioned on site and the
drilling programme is now fully underway. The drilling programme has been
designed to generate data and define the geometry of the diamondiferous
kimberlite cluster at the Camembeia complex within Alto Cuilo.  Further
information on the geochemistry and the volumes of the kimberlites will be
announced as the drilling programme progresses and the results are verified by
independent consultants.

Manufacture of the DMS (Dense Media Separation) diamond recovery plant, which is
being built by ADP Projects at their facility in Cape Town, will be completed
shortly and it will then be shipped to Luanda for onward transportation to Alto
Cuilo. The plant, which has a 65 tonne/hour throughput capacity, will be used
for bulk sampling of both kimberlite and alluvial deposits.

The drilling programme and results will be managed and interpreted by Loz Shaw
who has recently been appointed as Mineral Resources Manager, Project Alto
Cuilo. Loz holds a BSc Hons in Geology and with more than thirty years
experience in the diamond exploration and mining industry on the African
continent, mainly in Angola and Botswana, is a leading specialist in kimberlite
geology. He has carried out extensive mineral resource management on some of
Africa's largest diamond operations, extending the resources substantially, and
he brings to the project extensive knowledge of kimberlite open pit mining,
alluvial strip mining and river bed mining.

The Company is also pleased to announce that Alec Medlycott has been appointed
as Petra's Country Manager - Angola.  Alec, who is fluent in Portuguese, has
many years of experience as a geologist in Southern Africa on kimberlite
exploration and evaluation. He worked with Condiama in many parts of Angola from
1970-75.  In 1971-72 he built the Mussunuige regional exploration camp on Alto
Cuilo, interpreted the heavy mineral anomalies and identified the first
kimberlites through manhole pitting programmes. River gravels and terrace
gravels were tested at that time which led to the recovery of diamonds on the
Alto Cuilo concession.

Commenting on these developments, Adonis Pouroulis, Chairman and Chief Executive
of Petra Diamonds said, 'I look forward to announcing the first drilling results
from Alto Cuilo in the near future. I would also like to welcome Loz Shaw and
Alec Medlycott to Petra and I am delighted they have joined us, bringing with
them a wealth of expertise and knowledge of Angola and Alto Cuilo.'

Ends

For further information, please contact:

David Abery           Justine Howarth / Cathy Malins       Frank H. Moxon
Petra Diamonds        Parkgreen Communications             Williams de Broe
Tel: [phone]  Tel: [phone]                   Tel: [phone]



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