Progress on Alexkor

Petra Diamonds Ld
17 June 2002

UNDER EMBARGO: TO BE RELEASED 07H00 MONDAY 17TH JUNE

Petra Diamonds Limited Announces That it has Secured Bid Funding for Alexkor
Diamond Mine.

It was reported in a recent issue of South Africa's Mining Weekly that a date
calling for tenders for the disposal of 51% of the equity in the Alexkor Diamond
Mine has been determined:

•        Mining Weekly has said that government expects to call for Requests for
Proposal (RFPs) from possible strategic equity partners by the end of this
month.

•        Alexkor is the state-owned diamond mine on the West Coast of South
Africa.

•        Petra held an interest in the management contract of Alexkor for two
years from May 1999 to May 2001. During the term of its participation in
management of the asset considerable improvement in the mining management and
development status of the mine was noted.

•        Petra has now confirmed that a major shareholder, Finkelstein Ch & Co
NV (a leading Belgian-based diamantaire) will support and/or arrange the
acquisition funding needed by Petra to bid for Alexkor.

•        Petra will go into the bid with a strong black empowerment component
that can show mining capacity.

Petra recently advised shareholders of a US$6.5 million financing facility. This
is in addition to the proposed Alexkor acquisition funding, and other funding
opportunities that could be provided by Finkelstein once diamond production has
commenced and the share price reaches trigger points of 50p and 75p respectively
- as announced last year.

Directors and management believe that the above financing arrangements, together
with the experience gained in managing the Alexkor mine, puts Petra in the right
position to mount an attractive bid.


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