Petra Diamonds keeps founder Pouroulis as chairman

South Africa’s Petra Diamonds is keeping founder Adonis Pouroulis as chairman, despite some shareholders voting against his renewal at the 2018 annual general meeting.

The company, which last month appointed former gold miner Richard Duffy as chief executive effective in April, said the appointment of a new chair was “not appropriate” at this time.

Petra said the board and nomination committee had considered the 22.12% vote against Pouroulis’ re-election as chairman in the context of Petra’s ongoing three-year succession plan.

Despite concerns raised by some shareholders, the diamond miner said the current chairman continued to “demonstrate the independence of thought and challenge required for his role, notwithstanding the number of years he has served as a director.”

Pouroulis founded Petra in 1997 and has been its chairman ever since.

The company has been seeking to turn around its fortunes after piling up debt to expand its iconic Cullinan mine, in South Africa, where the world’s largest-ever diamond was found in 1905.

Source:DCLA

Petra Diamonds keeps founder Pouroulis as chairman

South Africa’s Petra Diamonds is keeping founder Adonis Pouroulis as chairman, despite some shareholders voting against his renewal at the 2018 annual general meeting.

The company, which last month appointed former gold miner Richard Duffy as chief executive effective in April, said the appointment of a new chair was “not appropriate” at this time.

Petra said the board and nomination committee had considered the 22.12% vote against Pouroulis’ re-election as chairman in the context of Petra’s ongoing three-year succession plan.

Despite concerns raised by some shareholders, the diamond miner said the current chairman continued to “demonstrate the independence of thought and challenge required for his role, notwithstanding the number of years he has served as a director.”

Pouroulis founded Petra in 1997 and has been its chairman ever since.

The company has been seeking to turn around its fortunes after piling up debt to expand its iconic Cullinan mine, in South Africa, where the world’s largest-ever diamond was found in 1905.

Source:DCLA

De Beers, Botswana to expand world’s richest diamond mine

Botswana’s Debswana Diamond Mining, a joint venture between De Beers and the southern Africa country’s government, have awarded Thiess’ subsidiary CIMIC a $1.2-billion contract to extend the lifespan of their Jwaneng mine.

Jwaneng, which began operations in 1982, is currently 650 metres deep, but its owners want to deepen the pit to 830 meters (2,700 feet), which will allow continuing operations for another 11 years, to 2035, and extracting a further 53 million carats.

Debswana will invest approximately $2 billion over the life of the project, dubbed Cut 9, which involves removing waste from the bottom of the mine to both widen and deepen the pit.

“Jwaneng, which began operations in 1982, will continue in operations unit 2035.”

At its peak, Cut-9 is expected to create more than 1,000 jobs, the majority of which will be held by locals.
“With global consumer demand for diamonds reaching record levels in 2018, the extension will enable us to continue to meet the needs of our consumers all over the world,” Debswana’s chairman Bruce Cleaver said in the statement.

This is not the first time Debswana decides to invest in expanding Jwaneng, the world’s No.1 diamond producing mine by value, which contributes almost 70% of the partnership’s total revenue.

The company completed in November a $3-billion, 10-year-long expansion plan, Cut 8, which extended the lifespan of the mine to 2024.

Debswana was formed in 1969 as a 50/50 partnership between the Botswana’s government and De Beers Group. The unit is a significant contributor to the country’s economy with more than 80% of its profits going back to Botswana’s citizens.

Diamonds from Debswana bring in about 50% of public revenue, representing 33% of GDP and over 80% of foreign earnings to Botswana.

Source: DCLA

De Beers, Botswana to expand world’s richest diamond mine

Botswana’s Debswana Diamond Mining, a joint venture between De Beers and the southern Africa country’s government, have awarded Thiess’ subsidiary CIMIC a $1.2-billion contract to extend the lifespan of their Jwaneng mine.

Jwaneng, which began operations in 1982, is currently 650 metres deep, but its owners want to deepen the pit to 830 meters (2,700 feet), which will allow continuing operations for another 11 years, to 2035, and extracting a further 53 million carats.

Debswana will invest approximately $2 billion over the life of the project, dubbed Cut 9, which involves removing waste from the bottom of the mine to both widen and deepen the pit.

“Jwaneng, which began operations in 1982, will continue in operations unit 2035.”

At its peak, Cut-9 is expected to create more than 1,000 jobs, the majority of which will be held by locals.
“With global consumer demand for diamonds reaching record levels in 2018, the extension will enable us to continue to meet the needs of our consumers all over the world,” Debswana’s chairman Bruce Cleaver said in the statement.

This is not the first time Debswana decides to invest in expanding Jwaneng, the world’s No.1 diamond producing mine by value, which contributes almost 70% of the partnership’s total revenue.

The company completed in November a $3-billion, 10-year-long expansion plan, Cut 8, which extended the lifespan of the mine to 2024.

Debswana was formed in 1969 as a 50/50 partnership between the Botswana’s government and De Beers Group. The unit is a significant contributor to the country’s economy with more than 80% of its profits going back to Botswana’s citizens.

Diamonds from Debswana bring in about 50% of public revenue, representing 33% of GDP and over 80% of foreign earnings to Botswana.

Source: DCLA

Lucapa finds fourth +50 carat diamond at Mothae mine in Lesotho

Australia’s Lucapa Diamond (ASX:LOM) has recovered an 83.9 carat diamond from its recently commissioned Mothae mine in Lesotho, Africa.

The stone is the fourth diamond over 50 carats the company has recovered to date at its 70%-owned Mothae operation.
While the find was not gem-quality, Lucapa says it continues to underline the large-stone nature of the kimberlite resource.

Commercial production at the mine, which the Perth-based company acquired in early 2017, began in December via a new 1.1 million tonne-per-year plant that is progressively ramping up to its nameplate capacity.

“While the 83.9 carat diamond was not gem-quality, Lucapa says the find continues to underline the large-stone nature of the kimberlite resource.”

The government of Lesotho owns the remaining 30% of Mothae, which is located 5km from Letšeng, the world’s highest dollars-per-carat kimberlite diamond operation.

“We are highly encouraged that the coarse size fraction in our recently commenced commercial production through the new 1.1-million-tonne-a-year Mothae plant is reinforcing why Lucapa invested in this second high-value resource to complement production from the Lulo mine in Angola,” said managing director Stephen Wetherall.

Lucapa plans to update guidance for the mine in respect of volume, grade and price in the June quarter after the first quarter of commercial mining operations.

Mothae is currently expected to yield 22,000 carats per year.

Lucapa also has a 40% stake in the prolific Lulo mine in Angola, a source of the world’s highest dollar-per-carat alluvial diamonds.
 
Currently, the company is advancing two exploration projects in well-known diamond districts. One is at Brooking in the West Kimberley lamproite province of Western Australia.

The other is a the Orapa Area F project in its namesake mine in Botswana, where it plans to drill kimberlite targets this year.

Shares in the company closed at 19 Australian cents on Friday, 2.7% higher than the previous day, though it remains near its year-low of 16.5 cents and well below last May’s high of 31 cents.

Source: DCLA

Lucapa finds fourth +50 carat diamond at Mothae mine in Lesotho

Australia’s Lucapa Diamond (ASX:LOM) has recovered an 83.9 carat diamond from its recently commissioned Mothae mine in Lesotho, Africa.

The stone is the fourth diamond over 50 carats the company has recovered to date at its 70%-owned Mothae operation.
While the find was not gem-quality, Lucapa says it continues to underline the large-stone nature of the kimberlite resource.

Commercial production at the mine, which the Perth-based company acquired in early 2017, began in December via a new 1.1 million tonne-per-year plant that is progressively ramping up to its nameplate capacity.

“While the 83.9 carat diamond was not gem-quality, Lucapa says the find continues to underline the large-stone nature of the kimberlite resource.”

The government of Lesotho owns the remaining 30% of Mothae, which is located 5km from Letšeng, the world’s highest dollars-per-carat kimberlite diamond operation.

“We are highly encouraged that the coarse size fraction in our recently commenced commercial production through the new 1.1-million-tonne-a-year Mothae plant is reinforcing why Lucapa invested in this second high-value resource to complement production from the Lulo mine in Angola,” said managing director Stephen Wetherall.

Lucapa plans to update guidance for the mine in respect of volume, grade and price in the June quarter after the first quarter of commercial mining operations.

Mothae is currently expected to yield 22,000 carats per year.

Lucapa also has a 40% stake in the prolific Lulo mine in Angola, a source of the world’s highest dollar-per-carat alluvial diamonds.
 
Currently, the company is advancing two exploration projects in well-known diamond districts. One is at Brooking in the West Kimberley lamproite province of Western Australia.

The other is a the Orapa Area F project in its namesake mine in Botswana, where it plans to drill kimberlite targets this year.

Shares in the company closed at 19 Australian cents on Friday, 2.7% higher than the previous day, though it remains near its year-low of 16.5 cents and well below last May’s high of 31 cents.

Source: DCLA

Russian diamond miner Alrosa wants controlling stake to mine in Zimbabwe

Russian state-controlled miner Alrosa will assess the quality of Zimbabwe’s diamond reserves over the next six months but would only start mining if it can take a majority stake in such a project, the company’s chief executive said on Monday.

Zimbabwe is seeking to attract investment and has scrapped legislation that restricts foreign participation for some commodities. It has yet to do so for diamonds and platinum but has said that it will.

“Of course we’ll only be ready to participate in projects in cases where we can have management control and operational control of the assets,” Alrosa CEO Sergey Ivanov told Reuters.
That would mean a stake of at least 51 percent, he said, adding that he would be confident of achieving that if it gets to the stage of detailed discussions on how to advance a project.

Russia, along with China, has been a political ally of Zimbabwe since the days of its independence war against British rule, and this year Zimbabwe selected Alrosa and China’s Anjin Investments to partner its state diamond company.

Alrosa, the biggest diamond producer by volume, as well as Anglo American’s De Beers, the biggest in value terms, both say supply will shrink in the coming years as mines, such as Rio Tinto’s Argyle project, become depleted.

Laboratory-grown diamonds will add some supply. But Alrosa, like De Beers, says man-made stones are a separate market and have no re-sale value, in contrast to natural gems.

De Beers last year began marketing laboratory diamonds as jewelry for the first time, but Ivanov said that Alrosa has no interest in following suit.

The company is, however, expanding in Africa, where Zimbabwe and Angola remain under-explored.

Last year Alrosa said it was increasing its stake in Angola and Ivanov expects a deal to increase Alrosa’s stake in Angola, first flagged last year, will close “in the near future”. Alrosa and the Angolan government would each have a 41 percent stake, with the rest held by Chinese investors.

OPEC to scrap April meeting but keep oil cuts in place

Ivanov said stake size is not the only consideration and in Angola the company has reached agreement on corporate governance, transparency and has established an advisory board.

Alrosa is also protecting itself against the impact of U.S. sanctions by building trading infrastructure to allow transactions in currencies other than dollars, amounting to “a couple of percent” of its business.

He said it would not be rational to switch totally from dollars because that could distort the market.

“But in case there’s some geopolitical escalation, we should be able to switch to other currencies,” he said, citing Indian rupees, Chinese RMB and euros.

Source: DCLA