Petra Revenues Climb to $221M As Production Slides

Dippenaar (above), "The fundamentals of our industry are strong."

(IDEX Online News) – Production issues and rising diamond prices are the components of Petra Diamonds' fiscal year. The company reported a 34.8 percent increase in revenues despite a 4 percent decline in production.

Petra generated an income of $220.6 million and a profit of $76.4 million, according to unaudited results for the fiscal year ending June 30.

The South African diamond miner produced of 1.12 million carats in fiscal 2011. Petra pinned the decline on a strategic focus on "value production," the planned cessation of main pit production at Williamson, the planned depletion of Optical Sort Plant tailings material at Cullinan, initial commissioning difficulties at Kimberley Underground and unseasonably heavy rainfall in South Africa have led to flat diamond production.

In the coming years Petra intends to increase production, targeting 4 million carats by fiscal 2014 and more than 5 million carats by fiscal 2019.

The firm said that although recent economic uncertainty has led to an adjustment in rough diamond prices, "the long-term outlook remains positive due to strong supply and demand fundamentals."

According to CEO Johan Dippenaar, "The fundamentals of our industry are strong; whilst the global supply of diamonds remains constrained, demand continues to rise in both established and new markets."

"With the completion of Finsch and the proposed move up to the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange, I am very positive about the future for Petra in the 2012 financial year and beyond,” he added.