Cash-strapped Petra Diamonds agreed on the first sale of assets, disposing of its exploration tenements in Botswana, one of the world’s leading sources of diamonds, to reduce its debt.
“This disposal forms part of our strategy to focus on driving efficiencies from our high-quality producing mines, but allows us to maintain upside to potential future commercial production from the Botswana assets, particularly from the KX36 deposit,” said Petra CEO Richard Duffy. Petra’s turnaround strategy in SA, which was focused on generating maximum cash and cutting costs, was disrupted by the strict economic lockdown in SA at the end of March, which was gradually eased, allowing underground mines to return to full staffing levels in June.
“KX36, located deep in the Kalahari, presents challenges, but the greatest challenge of all is overcome — finding a significantly sized high-grade deposit. We have evaluated options on KX36 and believe we can add value to the discovery.”