CEO Richard Duffy
Independent diamond miner Petra Diamonds’ sixth tender cycle for the 2024 financial year yielded $44-million from the sale of 371 000 ct.
CEO Richard Duffy says like-for-like prices were marginally down through this seasonally quiet period, being 2.6% lower than for Tender 5, with demand slightly muted owing to Indian holidays and the continued slow recovery in the Chinese market.
“We continue to see evidence of stabilisation in the market and are cautiously optimistic that demand and pricing will improve towards the end of this calendar year. We plan to conclude a seventh sales cycle closing before the end of June,” he points out.
Total year-to-date revenue from rough diamond sales is $329-million, compared with $316-million for the first five tenders of full year 2023, excluding carats produced at the Koffiefontein mine in South Africa, which is currently on care and maintenance in preparation for a possible sale following the execution of a definitive sales agreement announced in April.
Year-on-year volume variances in respect of year-to-date full year 2023 were affected by the deferral of certain parcels which were sold as part of Tender 1 of full year 2024.
Like-for-like rough diamond prices for the sixth sales cycle decreased by 2.6% compared with the fifth tender, mainly as a result of seasonal weakness across virtually all size categories.
Average like-for-like prices for the six tenders thus far this year were down 8.6%, compared with the equivalent tenders of full year 2023.
Petra avers that the balance of price movements is attributable to product mix, with average prices per carat received being 13% lower than the previous tender, largely as a result of the 14.76 ct exceptional colour and clarity blue diamond which sold for $8.2-million in the previous tender.
Although the average price at the Williamson mine, in Tanzania, was up 3% compared with the previous tender, average prices for this cycle were impacted by a reduced prevalence of higher-valued single diamonds, Petra says.
This reduced prevalence is ascribed to the mining areas currently being accessed and is expected to be temporary in nature, the company posits.
Pricing assumptions for the remainder of the year remain unchanged.