By: Creamer media

“Alongside the broader diamond sector, Petra has been navigating a very difficult diamond market. Despite this, Petra has shown considerable resilience by delivering on its production and cost targets, while undergoing unprecedented changes in the business, including the regrettable loss of jobs,” interim joint CEOs Vivek Gadodia and Juan Kemp say of the quarter ended March 31.

“We believe the steps we have taken over the past 12 months position Petra well for a successful refinancing. We will now look to commence engagements with our lenders on the refinancing of our debt maturing in early 2026,” they add.

Both the Cullinan and Finsch mines in South Africa maintained their solid performances, supported by the ongoing focus on safe, stable operations and a revised cost discipline approach.

The group remains on track to deliver production guidance for the full-year of 2.4-million to 2.7-million carats for the South African operations.

Operationally, Finsch began mining from the 81L block, which should result in improved quality and higher overall recovered value, Petra points out.

As mentioned in an update on April 9, while production volumes were largely maintained at Cullinan, the mine continued to experience weaker product mix.

Recovery is expected to improve as tonnage from the new CC1E sub-level cave ramps up and extensions to the C-Cut progress, but short-term volatility in product mix is likely to continue, Petra warns.

The partial sale of Tender 5 for Finsch and Williamson was completed in early April, resulting in total sales of 176 000 ct for $18-million.

Owing to the uncertainty caused by the US tariff announcement, a decision was made to delay the sale of Tender 5 goods from Cullinan, which the group expects to complete in early June, along with its Tender 6 cycle.

The labour restructuring in support services that was initiated in December 2024 was successfully concluded during the quarter under review.

As an outcome of Petra’s life-of-mine plan reviews, the Cullinan mine will transition from a continuous operation to a three-shift operation in full-year 2026.

Consequently, a Section 189A (retrenchment) consultation process was initiated at the beginning of May.

This process is expected to be completed by mid-July and marks the final element of the internal business restructuring plan that was launched in December 2024.

Petra also announced the completion of the sale of Williamson diamond mine to Pink Diamonds, as previously reported by Mining Weekly, in line with plans to streamline the group to its two core South African assets, which it says present significant value over the long term.

Revenue for the quarter was $42-million, a drop from the $106-million in the previous quarter.

Capital expenditure was $15-million, in-line with guidance announced following the smoother capital profile implemented in the previous year.

Consolidated net debt increased to $258-million as at March 31, from $225-million at December 31, 2024, owing to working capital requirements.