Richard Duffy, Chief Executive Officer of Petra, commented, “Production increased 2% in this period as operations continued to stabilise at Finsch and Cullinan Mines and Williamson continued its ramp-up to full production. We remain on track to meet our FY 2024 production guidance of 2.9 – 3.2 Mct.
Although, as announced on 01 November 2023, we expect it will be towards the lower end of guidance. We continue to make good progress on the CC1E development project at Cullinan Mine and the 78-Level Phase II development project at Finsch, and the resumption of the deferred capital programmes remains on target for July 2024.
The replanning and value-engineering work associated with the deferred capital projects continues and, once completed, the Company will inform the market of the expected impact on forward looking guidance.
While we are seeing encouraging indications of price recovery and some stabilisation in the rough diamond market, following actions taken by both producers and the mid-stream, we continue to adopt a cautious approach to the market in the near-term.
Once completed, the additional headroom afforded by our increased Revolving Credit Facility will enable us to continue our flexible sales approach and position ourselves to take advantage of any market improvements.”
According to the key takeaways of H1 FY 2023, total diamond production increased 2% to 1.43 million carats mainly due to resuming operations at Williamson and increased ROM contribution at Finsch, partially offset by slightly lower grades at the Cullinan Mine.
Revenue amounted to US$187.8 million (H1 FY 2023: US$208.5 million). While as previously announced, like-for-like prices were down 13.3% compared to H1 FY 2023 sales, with the balance of price movements attributable to product mix.
Consolidated net debt increased to US$212.3 million as at 31 December 2023 (30 June 2023: US$176.8 million) due to the timing of closing the Company’s sales tenders, the continued lower diamond pricing environment, working capital funding for the resumption of mining at Williamson and the increasing capex spend profile, as previously announced, to extend the life of our operations at Cullinan Mine and Finsch.
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