Gold miner Richard Duffy appointed new chief of Petra Diamonds

Petra Diamonds has appointed former gold miner Richard Duffy as chief executive as it grapples with a heavy debt load following a period of expansion.

Mr Duffy was previously chief financial officer and head of African operations at AngloGold Ashanti before setting up a company that develops renewable energy projects in Africa.

Mr Duffy “will be critical to drive Petra’s transition from a phase of intensive capital expenditure and expansion to a focus on steady-state, cash-generative operation,” Petra’s chairman, Adonis Pouroulis, said. The appointment comes as Petra faces lower diamond prices and $559m of net debt that it needs to pay off.

Diamond prices were about 4 per cent lower in the six months ending December due to “industry wide lower prices for lower quality” small stones, the company said on Monday. Average pricing for diamonds at the company’s flagship Cullinan mine in South Africa fell to $96 a carat, the lowest six-month level since 2010.

Petra said adjusted earnings before interest tax and other items, or ebitda, fell 6 per cent to $75.6m in the second half of last year. It reported a net loss of $57.9m, from a loss of $117.7m in the same period a year earlier.

Revenues rose by 8 per cent to $207.1m as diamonds sold increased by 15 per cent to 1.74m carats. The company said reduction of its debt is a priority.

It has $90.7m in cash at the bank and said net debt is expected to be “largely flat” during the first half of this year if diamond prices remain at the same levels.

Source: ft.com

Gold miner Richard Duffy appointed new chief of Petra Diamonds

Petra Diamonds has appointed former gold miner Richard Duffy as chief executive as it grapples with a heavy debt load following a period of expansion.

Mr Duffy was previously chief financial officer and head of African operations at AngloGold Ashanti before setting up a company that develops renewable energy projects in Africa.

Mr Duffy “will be critical to drive Petra’s transition from a phase of intensive capital expenditure and expansion to a focus on steady-state, cash-generative operation,” Petra’s chairman, Adonis Pouroulis, said. The appointment comes as Petra faces lower diamond prices and $559m of net debt that it needs to pay off.

Diamond prices were about 4 per cent lower in the six months ending December due to “industry wide lower prices for lower quality” small stones, the company said on Monday. Average pricing for diamonds at the company’s flagship Cullinan mine in South Africa fell to $96 a carat, the lowest six-month level since 2010.

Petra said adjusted earnings before interest tax and other items, or ebitda, fell 6 per cent to $75.6m in the second half of last year. It reported a net loss of $57.9m, from a loss of $117.7m in the same period a year earlier.

Revenues rose by 8 per cent to $207.1m as diamonds sold increased by 15 per cent to 1.74m carats. The company said reduction of its debt is a priority.

It has $90.7m in cash at the bank and said net debt is expected to be “largely flat” during the first half of this year if diamond prices remain at the same levels.

Source: ft.com

Botswana Diamonds (BOD) Stock Price Down 12.1%

Shares of Botswana Diamonds PLC fell 12.1% during mid-day trading on Friday .

The stock traded as low as GBX 0.74 ($0.01) and last traded at GBX 0.73 ($0.01). 2,614,274 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 75% from the average session volume of 1,490,000 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 0.83 ($0.01).

Separately, Northland Securities reaffirmed a “speculative buy” rating on shares of Botswana Diamonds in a research report on Thursday, November 15th.
 
Botswana Diamonds Company Profile

Botswana Diamonds plc operates as a diamond exploration and project development company in Botswana and South Africa.

The company’s flagship property is the Thorny River project, a long narrow kimberlite dyke stretching over 7 kilometers located in the Limpopo Province.

Botswana Diamonds plc was founded in 2010 is based in Dublin, Ireland.

Source: DCLA

Botswana Diamonds (BOD) Stock Price Down 12.1%

Shares of Botswana Diamonds PLC fell 12.1% during mid-day trading on Friday .

The stock traded as low as GBX 0.74 ($0.01) and last traded at GBX 0.73 ($0.01). 2,614,274 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 75% from the average session volume of 1,490,000 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 0.83 ($0.01).

Separately, Northland Securities reaffirmed a “speculative buy” rating on shares of Botswana Diamonds in a research report on Thursday, November 15th.
 
Botswana Diamonds Company Profile

Botswana Diamonds plc operates as a diamond exploration and project development company in Botswana and South Africa.

The company’s flagship property is the Thorny River project, a long narrow kimberlite dyke stretching over 7 kilometers located in the Limpopo Province.

Botswana Diamonds plc was founded in 2010 is based in Dublin, Ireland.

Source: DCLA

Gem Diamonds’ Latest Exceptional Recovery a 13-Carat Pink

Gem Diamonds recovered a high quality 13.33 carat, pink colour Type I diamond from the Letšeng mine in Lesotho on 7 February 2019.

The prices for diamonds of this color of diamond are typically exceptional.

In the first half of 2018, when Gem recovered 10 rough stones larger than 100 carats at its Letšeng mine, the highest price achieved was $62,433 per carat for a 2.26-carat pink diamond.

Source:DCLA

Gem Diamonds’ Latest Exceptional Recovery a 13-Carat Pink

Gem Diamonds recovered a high quality 13.33 carat, pink colour Type I diamond from the Letšeng mine in Lesotho on 7 February 2019.

The prices for diamonds of this color of diamond are typically exceptional.

In the first half of 2018, when Gem recovered 10 rough stones larger than 100 carats at its Letšeng mine, the highest price achieved was $62,433 per carat for a 2.26-carat pink diamond.

Source:DCLA

Alrosa exhibits largest pink diamond ever found in Russia

Russia’s Alrosa the world’s top diamond producer by output in carats, has put together a collection of recently found large coloured diamonds, which includes a pink oval gem weighing 14.83 carats the largest of its kind ever found in Russia.
The diamond it was cut from a rough found in 2017 at the Ebelyakh deposit in Yakutia, rated by the American journal The National Jeweler as the best discovery of the year. Before it was mined, ALROSA’s largest pink gem had weighed 3.86 carats.
“Pink diamonds among the blue ones are considered to be the rarest and most precious of all, and the size and clarity of this specimen makes it one of the best to be discovered anywhere in the world in recent years,” Alrosa’s chief executive Yury Okoyemovsaid  in a statement. “I am sure that this diamond will be the most expensive in the history of Russia’s gem cutting industry.”
The largest stone in the collection, however, is a deep yellow asscher cut diamond, weighing 20.69 carats.
The largest stone in the group, however, was a deep yellow asscher cut diamond, weighing 20.69 carats. It was cut from a raw crystal with a rare honey hue, which weighed 34.17 carats, also mined in 2017.

alrosa-large-yellow-diamond

Other diamonds in the collection include a pink-purple cushion-shaped stone, weighing 11.06 carats, recognized by the GIA (the Gemological Institute of America) as the largest of its colour in the world.

In the last year, Alrosa has worked on boosting revenue from selling rare, coloured diamonds where demand is stable, although it is a niche business.

According to market analysts, the average price for pink, yellow, blue and green stones has risen consistently by 12% a year over the last few decades, driven by consumers passion for something exotic and unusual. This means they are less affected by other factors driving general diamonds’ supply and demand.

Currently, the global market for polished coloured diamonds is now dominated by Rio Tinto and Anglo American’s De Beers. But state-controlled Alrosa aims to compete.

“The diamonds we are now exhibiting are completely unique, and each of them perfectly embodies the Russian art of gem cutting,” Okoyemov said. “We calculate that the huge potential of our coloured diamonds will very soon enable Alrosa to become the world’s leader in that market.”

The company noted its pink and yellow diamonds will be soon transferred to the GIA for certification.

Source: DCLA