JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Production at FTSE 250 miner Petra Diamonds’ operations increased 24% to 2.01-million carats in the first half of the year, ended December 31, owing to a higher contribution from undiluted run-of-mine (RoM) ore leading to improved grades, and additional tailings production from its Kimberley Ekapa Mining joint venture (JV) in the Northern Cape.

During the six months under review, the company’s revenue also increased 48% to $228.5-million, owing to increased sales, which rose 47% to 1.91-million carats.

The company on Monday said it remained on track to deliver its guided full-year production of between 4.4-million and 4.6-million carats.

“We have delivered strong operational results . . . and will continue to advance our expansion programmes,” said CEO Johan Dippenaar, adding that the company would also experience a reduction in capital expenditure as its capital projects come to fruition.

Petra’s expansion projects include the underground projects at its Finsch diamond mine’s Block 5 SLC and its Cullinan C-Cut Phase 1. Commissioning of the new Cullinan plant is set to start towards the third quarter of the year.

Finsch's RoM carat production increased 9% to 816 001 ct in the six months to December 31, driven by improved grades, while Cullinan's diamond production increased 30% to 419 754 ct.

Attributable production from the Kimberley Ekapa Mining JV was 432 174 ct for the six months under review, while the Williamson project’s diamond production increased 12% to 106 831 ct with larger volumes treated.

During the period, commissioning started on a newly installed mill section at Williamson and is expected to be completed during the third quarter. Once fully commissioned, both RoM grades and throughput will improve.

Production at Petra’s Koffiefontein was hampered during the six months under review by downtime required to resolve issues encountered in the ore-handling infrastructure. The mine is now set to deliver planned levels of production from the second half of the financial year, onwards.