[miningmx.com] – PETRA Diamonds reported an interim loss of $2.2m, reflecting a tough six months of low rough diamond prices that offset its on-target operational performance, said BDLive citing CEO Johan Dippenaar.
London-listed Petra, which has all but one of its mines in South Africa, said revenue for the six months to end-December fell 28% to $154m. It posted a net loss of $2.2m compared with a $39m profit for the same period a year earlier.
Net debt ballooned to $324m, from $46m a year earlier, as the company poured money into its mines — particularly Cullinan and Finsch, where Petra is developing two new block-cave mines.
These will replace ageing mining areas and give it access to fresh, unmined kimberlite, which will generate higher revenue and push the group towards 5-million carats of output from 2019.
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