JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Describing itself as in “a transitional period”, Petra Diamonds on Friday said it expected its revenue for the full year to be around $430-million, owing to variability in its product mix
The diamond miner further noted that it expected to meet its initial full-year production target of 3.2-million carats, but not the 3.3-million-carat revised guidance it had set in February.
The London-listed company said in a statement on Friday that the transitional period was the result of the underground production at the South African Finsch and Cullinan mines being sourced from mature and diluted mining areas, causing variability in both the achieved run-of-mine grade and product mix.
It added that its reliance on production from heavily diluted ore would become “less of an issue” during the course of the 2016 financial year, as the company would see increasing production from less diluted areas and new mining areas, providing access to undiluted ore and a reduction in waste development tons.
Petra’s expansion programmes, meanwhile, remained on time at both flagship operations and the company remained on track to reach its longer-term target of producing five-million carats by the 2019 financial year.
The company's share price fell as much as 12.4% early on Friday.