Sydney, Nov 30, 2005 (ABN Newswire) - Petra Diamonds Limited (ASX: PDL) ('Petra' or 'the Company'), the AIM-quoted and ASX-listed diamond mining group, announces the recovery of a 76 carat diamond from the Sedibeng mine in South Africa. When sold, it is expected that the stone will realise a sales value of approximately US$500,000.
The same mining complex produced several large stones last year, one of which was a 57 carat stone that sold for US$489,000 and a 42 carat stone that sold for US$282,000.
Adonis Pouroulis, Chairman of Petra, commented, 'We are delighted to announce the production of this exceptional stone. The Sedibeng mine has consistently produced high-quality diamonds and recoveries of such special stones combined with the growth in total carat production means that the South African operations will continue to generate increasing revenues for the group.'
Sedibeng mine (Messina and Dancarl operations)
Located in the Warrenton District, Northern Cape Province in South Africa, the Sedibeng diamond mine property (composed of the Messina and Dancarl operations) is composed of mining leases, diamond rights, surface rights and free holdings on various farms in the Northern Cape Province. The fissure system consists of three distinct vertical units which range in width between 20 and 110 centimetres and averages 55 centimetres.
In February 2005, Snowden Mining Industry Consultants published an updated Ore Reserve Statement for the Messina portion of the mine. The ore reserve, after applying the JORC guidelines, has been estimated to be 436,000 hoisted run of mine (ROM) tones grading 28 cpht. Messina produced around 25,000 carats in the 2004 calendar year at an average price of US$259 per carat running at an average grade of 25 cpht.
The Dancarl portion of the Sedibeng mine was purchased from De Beers in September 2004 by way of a JV between Crown Diamonds and Sedibeng Mining, Petra's Black Economic Empowerment partner in South Africa. In February 2005, Snowden Mining Industry Consultants published an updated Mineral Resource Statement for the Dancarl Mine. Snowden elected to classify the fissure resource at Dancarl as inferred. The inferred resource, after applying the JORC guidelines, has been estimated to be 483,000 fissure tonnes grading 70 cpht.
Messina and Dancarl are expected to produce at least 35,000 carats in FY 2005 / 2006 as underground mining gets underway at Dancarl and the ground is mined from Messina infrastructure.
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