Petra Diamonds has pushed off the sale of rough from its Cullinan mine in South Africa as it wrestles with concerns over the impact of tariffs, even as prices from its other deposits grew.
“Tender five sales for the Cullinan mine were originally expected to complete by the end of this week,” the company said Wednesday. “However, the US tariffs announcement late last week has resulted in considerable diamond-market uncertainty. In response to this, Petra has decided to postpone its…sales for the Cullinan mine until there is greater clarity around the impact of the tariffs.”
The miner believes the move will generate “more supportive market prices” for goods from Cullinan.
Product-mix issues at the deposit and the sluggish market also influenced Petra’s decision, the miner explained. The company currently retrieves its rough from the site’s C-Cut ore portion, which is reaching its end of life, and is therefore producing fewer gem-quality stones, especially ones above 10.8 carats. That shortage has led to lower-than-anticipated revenues and average prices in the last two tenders, Petra noted. The company expects the product mix to normalize in the near term as it moves to producing from its CC1E ore body. More recently, the new mining area has produced some high-quality rough stones over 10.8 carats, including a D-color, type II diamond weighing 81 carats.
The overall average price of rough from the company’s Finsch mine in South Africa and Williamson site in Tanzania rose 9% from Petra’s previous sale. The increase is primarily the result of an 8% jump in like-for-like prices and an improvement in the product mix.
Total revenue from the Finsch and Williamson tender, which concluded prior to the announcement of US tariffs, came to $18 million from the sale of 175,643 carats, at an average price of $101 per carat. That compares to $17 million for the sale of 181,857 carats, at an average price of $93 per carat in February.
For the fiscal year to date, total revenue from five tenders fell 25% to $103 million, as sales volume declined 13% to 1 million carats and the average price slipped 14% to $101 per carat.
Image: The Cullinan mine. (Petra Diamonds)
