Update on SA Operations

Petra Diamonds Ld
05 July 2005


5 July 2005

                             Petra Diamonds Limited

                       Update on South African operations





Petra Diamonds Limited ('Petra' or 'the Company'), the AIM-quoted and ASX-listed
diamond mining group, announces an update with regards to the Helam, Messina/
Dancarl and Star mines, the South African production operations that are now
part of the enlarged Petra group following the recent merger with Crown Diamonds
NL ('Crown') which was completed on 17 June 2005.



Highlights



•         All mines achieve record US$ diamond prices

•         Strong carat sales and revenue for the 6 months to June 2005

•         Operations on track to achieve production and revenue targets

•         Integration well advanced across the enlarged group



Petra's South African mining operations are progressing well and production is
expected to increase as planned for each of the Helam, Messina/Dancarl and Star
mines over the next 6 months. Production is on track to be 167,000 carats and
sales revenue in respect of the Crown operations is expected to be US$23 million
for the 2005 calendar year. Costs are running in line with expectations across
all the South African mining operations.



For the 6 months to 30 June 2005 Run of Mine ('ROM') sales were 77,295 carats
and revenue US$10.7 million. These numbers compare favourably to ROM sales and
revenue for the 12 months to December 2004 of 86,486 carats and US$12.9 million
respectively.



Combined June sales of US$2.2 million (ROM production) for the three mines
recorded the highest prices ever achieved by Crown, from total ROM production of
14,282 carats.



Helam

June sales (ROM production) of 10,162 carats averaged selling prices of US$92.90
per carat. This compares to an average for calendar year 2004 of US$74 per carat
and for the 6 months to 30 June 2005 of US$86 per carat.





Messina/Dancarl

June sales (ROM production) of 1,994 carats averaged selling prices of US$330
per carat. This compares to an average for calendar year 2004 of US$259 per
carat and for the 6 months to 30 June 2005 of US$283 per carat.



Star

June sales (ROM production) of 2,126 carats averaged selling prices of US$287
per carat. This compares to an average for calendar year 2004 of US$182 per
carat and for the 6 months to 30 June 2005 of US$224 per carat.



Update on Crown merger implementation

The Petra Board reports that significant attention has been given to the
integration of Crown and its operations into the enlarged Petra group.
Implementation is well advanced and will be completed in the near future. The
Company is now focusing on the development of its production and exploration
projects in South Africa, Angola and Sierra Leone.



Commenting on this Johan Dippenaar, Chief Executive of Petra, said 'We're on
track to achieve our production targets for the year. It is very pleasing to see
improved grades at Star and Helam due to the benefits from the anticipated
improvement in geological conditions through the planned re-development of the
mine in the lower levels and increased mining efficiency at all the operations.
Added to that, the buoyant diamond market allows us to reach ever higher prices
for our goods. Crown's systems and operations are being quickly and efficiently
integrated and we look forward to improving results further.'





Ends



For further information, please contact:


Petra Diamonds, South Africa                   Parkgreen Communications, London

Johan Dippenaar/ David Abery                   Justine Howarth / Annabel Leather

Tel [phone]                            Tel [phone]



John Baillie, Perth                            Field PR, Adelaide

Tel [phone]                            Kevin Skinner

                                               Tel [phone]

                                               Mobile [phone]








Background to Petra's South African mines



Petra's producing diamond assets are currently all situated in South Africa.
They encompass Helam, Star and the Messina/Dancarl joint venture which Crown
acquired in July 2005. These are all kimberlite fissure operations with a life
of mine in excess of 15 years each with each producing quality diamond gem
stones. It is estimated that the mines will produce in excess of 167,000 carats
of gem quality stones in calendar year 2005, compared to 85,487 (sales of
86,486) in calendar year 2004.



The Star and Helam mines are 100% owned by Petra while the company has a 74.5%
interest in the Messina/Dancarl complex.  The balance is owned by Petra's JV
Partner, Sedibeng Mining (Pty) Limited.



Helam

Helam is situated in the North-West province of South Africa and has been in
continuous production for over 60 years. Production for the 2005 calendar year
is expected to be around 96,000 carats. The mechanisation program in place at
Helam will enhance the ability of this mine to meet future production targets.
In addition, Helam has several compelling and as yet unexplored brown fields
targets that have not yet been investigated. Without these, the life of mine is
in excess of 15 years.



Star

Star is situated in the Free State province of South Africa and produced 16,000
carats over the 2004 calendar year at an average price of US$200 per carat
running at an average grade of 44 cpht. Production in the 2005 calendar year is
expected to increase to approximately 36,000 carats. The life of mine is in
excess of 15 years.



Messina/Dancarl

Messina produced around 25,000 carats (and sold around 26,000 carats) in the
2004 calendar year at an average price of US$250 per carat running at an average
grade of 28 cpht. Dancarl was purchased from De Beers in September 2004 and is
subject to a JV between Petra and Sedibeng Mining, Petra's Black Economic
Empowerment partner in South Africa. Messina and Dancarl are expected to produce
at least 35,000 carats in the 2005 calendar year as underground mining gets
underway at Dancarl and the ground is mined from Messina infrastructure. The
life of mine is in excess of 15 years.




                      This information is provided by RNS
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