[miningmx.com] — PETRA Diamonds said on Monday core profit fell 5.4% in the year to end-June as higher rough diamond prices outweighed a decline in production and rising costs.
Rough diamond prices rose steadily from last October to highs in June 2011, but Petra said that recent economic uncertainty may cause some price volatility in the short term.
Earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortisation dipped to $67.1m, missing the consensus of $74.5m, from $70.9m the previous year. The company has previously announced that revenue rose 24% in the year.
Petra completed the acquisition of a 74% interest in the Finsch mine, South Africa’s second-largest mine by output, last week. The mine is expected to add at least 1 million carats (Mcts) to production for the current financial year.
Finsch is expected to more than double Petra’s annual production, adding about 1.5 million carats a year and almost two million carats by FY 2018.
Overall, Petra expects to produce about four million carats by the FY 2014 and more than five million carats a year by FY 2019.
