23.16 carat Rare Pink Diamond Sale and Partnership

RNS Number : 4282I

Petra Diamonds Limited

09 December 2015

 

9 December 2015

LSE: PDL

 

Petra Diamonds Limited

("Petra" or the "Company")

23.16 carat Rare Pink Diamond Sale and Partnership

Petra Diamonds Limited announces that the exceptional 23.16 carat pink diamond recovered from the Williamson mine in Tanzania in November has been sold into a partnership, with Petra receiving US$10,050,000 (US$433,938 per carat) for the rough stone, as well as retaining a 20% interest in the sales proceeds of the polished.

The diamond was bought by Golden Yellow Diamonds on behalf of M.A. Anavi Diamond Group, a leading diamond manufacturer and specialist in large and unique coloured diamonds.

Johan Dippenaar, CEO of Petra, commented:

"This sale result affirms that the market for high quality coloured diamonds remains robust. Pinks of this size and quality are incredibly rare, but the Williamson mine is known to produce them from time to time. This bodes well for the future of the mine as we continue to ramp up production and optimise the processing plant.

"Given the exceptional nature of this pink stone, we are delighted to retain exposure to the uplift in the polished."

Photos of the 23 carat pink can be viewed on the following link at the Company's website:  http://www.petradiamonds.com/media/image-library/diamonds. 

For further information, please contact:

Petra Diamonds, London                                         Telephone: [phone]

Cathy Malins                                                               [e-mail]

Cornelia Grant                                                             [e-mail]

Buchanan                                                                  Telephone: [phone]

(PR Adviser)

Bobby Morse                                                               [e-mail]

Anna Michniewicz                                                       [e-mail]

RBC Capital Markets                                               Telephone: [phone]

(Joint Broker)

Matthew Coakes                                                         [e-mail]

Jonathan Hardy                                                           [e-mail]

Barclays                                                                     Telephone: [phone]

(Joint Broker)

Bertie Whitehead                                                        [e-mail]

Philip Drake                                                                 [e-mail]

About Petra Diamonds Limited

Petra Diamonds is a leading independent diamond mining group and an increasingly important supplier of rough diamonds to the international market. The Company has interests in five producing mines: four in South Africa (Finsch, Cullinan, Koffiefontein and Kimberley Underground) and one in Tanzania (Williamson). It also maintains an exploration programme in Botswana.

Petra has a core objective to steadily increase annual production to ca. 5 million carats by FY 2019. The Group has a significant resource base of ca. 300 million carats.

Petra conducts all operations according to the highest ethical standards and will only operate in countries which are members of the Kimberley Process. Petra is quoted with a premium listing on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange under the ticker 'PDL'. For more information, visit the Company's website at www.petradiamonds.com. 

About the Williamson mine

Located in the Shinyanga Province in Tanzania, Williamson is the country's only important diamond producer. The mine is an open pit operation based upon the 146 hectare Mwadui kimberlite pipe, which is the world's largest economic kimberlite by surface area.  Despite having been in continuous operation since 1940, the pit is only 95 metres at its deepest point due to the significant size of the deposit.

Williamson produces high quality diamonds, as evidenced by the average value of US$298 per carat in FY 2015, and is renowned for beautifully rounded 'Type II' white goods and 'bubblegum' pink stones. The 'Williamson Pink', which is considered to be one of the finest pink diamonds ever recovered, was found at Williamson in October 1947, weighing 54 carats in the rough. The mine, then owned by the Canadian geologist and royalist Dr John Williamson, gave the diamond to Princess Elizabeth in 1947 as a wedding present. It was cut into a 23 carat round brilliant and set as the centre of a brooch in the form of a jonquil flower, designed and set by Cartier in 1953.

About Pink Diamonds

The pink colour in diamonds is thought to be brought about by an alteration to the stone's molecular structure, possibly caused by some kind of seismic shock at the time of the diamond's formation. Scientists speculate that this led to an atomic-level lattice defect that can selectively absorb light in the visible region of the spectrum. This colour centre is often concentrated in parallel planes (i.e. graining) within an otherwise nearly colourless diamond. More scientific investigation is currently underway into how pink diamonds obtained their colour.

 

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