Diamonds

Namakwa Diamonds, the London-listed vertically integrated diamond mining company, has announced it has secured debt financing of $15m from a private investor.

Diamond mining junior Petra Diamonds, the AIM-listed diamond producer with operations in South Africa, has announced the completion of the sale of its Kono Diamond Project in Sierra Leone.

Namdeb, the partnership company between the Namibian government and diamond giant De Beers, reports a loss before tax of N$555m for the 2009 year, compared to a N$1.98bn profit in 2008, mainly due to a decrease in revenue.

Petra Diamonds will now finally take full ownership of the historic Kimberley Underground mines from De Beers after finally resolving mining licence complications.

Petra Diamonds has completed a protracted 30-month transaction to buy the Kimberley Underground mines from De Beers.

BRC DiamondCore, the African focused diamond explorer active in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has reported the narrowing of its March quarter loss.

Diamond miner Trans Hex Group says negotiations for the conversion of its prospecting contract for the Luana Concession in Angola to a mining contract have been successfully concluded.

Trans Hex now has a mining contract for the Luana concession in Angola but CEO Llewellyn Delport is tight-lipped at this stage over how it is going to be developed.

Gem Diamonds says diamond prices firmed in the first quarter.

Michiel de Witt joins a junior Canadian diamond and base metals exploration firm, Tsodilo. His future with BRC DiamondCore, where he is president, is not entirely clear cut.