Petra Diamonds
Petra Diamonds
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International diamond miner Petra has been struck by labour unrest at two of its South African operations, a day after warning negotiations on a new wage agreement could lead to trouble.
Petra says it's been experiencing disruption since Monday night at its state-of-the-art Finsch mine in Northern Cape Province and trouble is also occurring at its Kimberley Ekapa Mining JV in Kimberley.
Mining has been affected at both, although treatment of surface material and stockpiles is continuing.
International diamond miner Petra has resumed operations at its Williamson mine in Tanzania after a 4-day stoppage, but doubts over its relationship with the Tanzanian govt and the fate of a 71,654ct parcel of diamonds withheld from export by authorities continue to cloud its prospects.
Petra maintained production guidance for the year to end-June 2018 at 4.8-5Mct, but the forecast assumes Williamson will operate normally.
The reported allegations being levelled by the Tanzanian government against the country's only important diamond producer bear many similarities to the campaign it launched earlier this year against its largest gold producer, Acacia Mining.
Petra Diamonds says it has still not been formally told of the reasons the Tanzanian govt has blocked the export of a 71,654.45ct parcel of diamonds from its Williamson mine and is questioning some of the mine's key personnel.
The action against the company follows a parliamentary select committee investigation into the Tanzanian diamond sector.
Tanzanian President John Magufuli has ordered a review of a local contract belonging to diamond miner Petra Diamonds and asked senior public officials to resign over the outcome of a probe into the mining sector, Reuters reports.
London-listed Petra has a 75% of the Williamson Diamond Mine, the govt has the rest. No comment from Petra, which expects to produce 5M carats in FY/CY2018 from its 6 South African/Tanzanian operations.
London-listed Petra Diamonds is the latest victim of Tanzania’s crack down on its mining sector
It's still in record territory, but African diamond producer Petra has disclosed a late reduction in its forecast production and revenue for the year to end-June 2017 (FY17) that it blames on slower-than-anticipated progress on expansion programs across its operations.
Petra now predicts output will be 8-9% lower than the 4.4Mct guidance, reducing revenue and therefore financial results to below market expectations.
Increased Dec 2016 half (H1 FY17) diamond production to 2.01Mcts from its 6 South African/Tanzanian operations has seen Petra Diamonds post an interim net profit of $US35.2M from H1 FY16’s $2.2M loss.
The adjusted post tax net profit was up 348% to $28.2M and adjusted EBITDA up 80% to $87.1M on revenue up 48% to $228.5M.
Increased Dec 2016 half (H1 FY17) diamond production to 2.01M carats from its 6 South African/Tanzanian operations sees Petra Diamonds nicely on track for 4.4Mcts-4.6Mcts in FY17.
The H1 17 result compares with the 3.7Mcts in FY16 and due to increased undiluted RoM ore leading to improved grades and additional tailings production from Kimberley Ekapa Mining.
A guidance-beating 16% rise in diamond production to 3.7Mcts from Petra Diamonds’ 6 South African/Tanzanian operations has seen the company lift its preliminary net profit after tax 12% to $US66.8M in the June 2016 year (FY 2016).
And FY2017 is looking better with production expected to rise to 4.4Mcts-4.6 Mcts, excluding about 200,000cts attributable to Petra’s J/V partner at the new KEM JV, an attributable 5Mcts in FY2018 and 5.3Mcts by FY2019.