32.33ct Exceptional Pink Diamond Sale

RNS Number : 1196T

Petra Diamonds Limited

24 March 2016

 

24 March 2016

LSE: PDL

Petra Diamonds Limited

("Petra", the "Company")

32.33ct Exceptional Pink Diamond Sale

Petra Diamonds Limited announces that it has recently recovered and sold an exceptional 32.33 carat pink diamond from the Williamson mine in Tanzania for US$15.0 million (US$463,965 per carat), as well as retaining an interest in the polished proceeds (Petra will receive 10% of the value uplift 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.

A photo of the pink diamond can be viewed on the following link at the Company's website:  https://www.petradiamonds.com/media/image-library/diamonds. 

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For further information, please contact:

Petra Diamonds, London                                         Telephone: [phone]

Cathy Malins                                                               [e-mail]

Salisha Ilyas                                                                [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]

BMO Capital Markets                                               Telephone: [phone]

(Joint Broker)

Jeffrey Couch                                                              [e-mail] 

Neil Haycock                                                               [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 six producing operations: four underground mines in South Africa (Finsch, Cullinan, Koffiefontein and Kimberley Underground), extensive tailings operations in Kimberley (via its interest in the Kimberley Mines) and one open pit mine 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' and is a constituent of the FTSE4Good Index. 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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