Appointment of CEO

Petra Diamonds Ld
09 June 2004



9 June 2004

                Petra Diamonds Appoints Chief Executive Officer

Petra Diamonds Limited ('Petra' or 'the Company'), the AIM quoted mining group,
has appointed Kevin John Dabinett as Chief Executive Officer with effect from 15
June 2004. Adonis Pouroulis, who has been both Chairman and CEO of the Company
since its flotation on AIM in 1997, will remain as Executive Chairman.

Mr Dabinett (aged 49) was born in Zambia and educated in England, graduating
with an Honours Degree in Mining Engineering in 1976 from the Royal School of
Mines, London. He has since gained extensive operational and management
experience within the mining industry across Southern Africa. Throughout his
career, Mr. Dabinett has successfully managed various mining operations in
Southern Africa, often in difficult conditions.

Most recently, Mr Dabinett was with Impala Platinum Ltd as General Manager of
the Marula platinum project. He also had several years experience with Auridiam
Zimbabwe (Pvt) Ltd as General Manager where he oversaw the feasibility study and
commissioning of the pilot plant at the River Ranch diamond project in Zimbabwe,
then managed the expansion of the project into a 2 million tonne per annum
operating mine.

This appointment has been made in accordance with the Company's stated objective
that the roles of Chairman and CEO be held by different individuals, not only to
take account of corporate governance good practice but also to ensure that the
Company is properly structured with the best individuals to ensure that it
delivers on its projects and opportunities.

Commenting on Kevin Dabinett's appointment, Adonis Pouroulis, Chairman of Petra
Diamonds said, 'I am delighted that we have appointed an individual of Kevin's
calibre to the role of Chief Executive Officer at Petra.  Kevin understands how
to maximise production at large scale mining operations, as well as the managing
of projects of all sizes from exploration through to production and will be an
invaluable asset to Petra as we take the Company forward from its Angolan and
South African exploration base to become a fully operational mining and
exploration group.  He has extensive first-hand experience of Southern Africa,
Petra's target area for current and future projects.'

David Gadd-Claxton, Chief Operations Officer, has resigned from the Board with
immediate effect and Petra would like to take this opportunity to thank him for
his contribution to the Company. There are no plans to replace the COO as the
Board believes that the skills and experience of the current executive directors
are well suited to the Company's needs.

Listed below are the companies of which Mr Dabinett has been a Director at any
time in the past five years:


African Associated Mines Pvt Ltd
SMM Holdings Pvt Ltd
Barplats Investments Ltd
Barplats Mines Ltd
Rhodium Reefs Ltd
Barplats Holdings Pty Ltd


Mr Dabinett is no longer a Director of any of the above companies.  There is no
further information to disclose pursuant to the AIM rules.


 Ends


For further information, please contact:


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




Note to Editors

Most recently, Mr Dabinett was with Impala Platinum Ltd as General Manager of
the Marula platinum project. At Marula he was tasked with bringing Impala's new
100,000 ounce p.a. platinum  mine into operation. He began his career with BCL
Limited in Botswana working on a large underground copper/nickel complex
comprising four operating mines. Whilst at BCL, he was successful in raising
mining labour productivity and cutting costs, a goal he has repeated in various
management positions for different mining companies in Southern Africa.

After BCL, Mr Dabinett moved to Auridiam Zimbabwe (Pvt) Ltd as General Manager.
He oversaw the feasibility study and commissioning of a pilot plant at the River
Ranch diamond project in Zimbabwe, then managed the expansion of the project
into a 2 million tonne per annum operating mine. He subsequently joined African
Associated Mines, also in Zimbabwe, as Managing Director. Major achievements
included significantly raising productivity, restructuring the workforce and the
implementation of a total environmental rehabilitation plan.  Mr Dabinett then
worked in Zambia at the newly privatised copper mines.  Here he was responsible
for all mining and engineering activities at the Nkana division of Mopani Copper
Mines plc, a large underground copper/cobalt mine with a turnover of
approximately US$140 million per annum.




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