Photon Funding for Petra

Petra Diamonds Ld
18 August 2003



18 August 2003



                   Petra Diamonds secures £2m of debt finance


Petra Diamonds Limited ('Petra' or 'the Company') (PDL.L), the AIM quoted mining
group, announces that it has secured debt finance of £2 million. The funding
will mainly be used to finance the next stage of development on the Company's
Alto Cuilo concession in Northern Angola, with the balance providing additional
working capital for the group.



The funding has been provided by Photon Global Limited ('Photon'), an investment
company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands. One of Photon's objectives
is to seek investment opportunities in solid companies that require funding at
critical points in their growth cycle.



The funds will bear interest at LIBOR plus 2% p.a. The loan and accrued interest
fall due for repayment on 31 August 2005, although at Petra's option the loan or
any part of it can be repaid earlier than that date.



The Company has also issued warrants to Photon for a total of 3,333,332 ordinary
Petra shares. The warrants, which are comprised of four individual warrants of
833,333 shares each, may be exercised at any time from now until 31 August 2006
at an exercise price of sixty pence per share. Each of the four warrants may
only be exercised to the full number of 833,333 shares.



The loan and warrant agreements were finalised and signed on 14 August 2003,
following the agreement of the underlying term sheet between Petra and Photon on
14 July 2003.  At that time, Petra's share price was 30p and the warrant strike
price was a 100% mark-up to the share price.



Shareholders will be aware that in June this year, the Company's exploration
programme on Alto Cuilo resulted in the discovery of three diamondiferous
kimberlites on the concession within a 2km radius of AC1, the kimberlite
previously discovered by Petra. Petra's current work programme on Alto Cuilo
encompasses the evaluation of the primary kimberlites and the potential alluvial
deposits, exploration of the remaining geological anomalies  and production in
the form of bulk sampling the kimberlites. Negotiations have commenced with
various suppliers for the mining equipment and diamond recovery plant that will
be used on the concession in order to commence the bulk sampling project.



Adonis Pouroulis, Chairman of Petra, comments 'This fund raising marks a welcome
endorsement of the Alto Cuilo project and what we feel to be its potential.  Its
development is a key focus for Petra and the new funds will enable us to
significantly advance our work programme.'



 Ends


For further information, please contact:

David Abery - Finance Director                Justine Howarth / Cathy Malins
Petra Diamonds                                 Parkgreen Communications
Tel: [phone]                       Tel: [phone]




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