Petra Completes Kimberley Underground Acquisition

Published on 24/05/10

Petra Diamonds completed its acquisition of the Kimberley Underground asset more than two years after agreeing to buy the mine for $10.4 million.

“The transaction has taken longer than originally anticipated to complete due to complexities related to the new order mining right, which have now been completely resolved,” the company explained.

Petra has been operating Kimberley Underground under care and maintenance since September 2007, but said that processing and diamond recoveries will now go forward at the mine. The company has built up a stockpile of approximately 500,000 tons of ore containing an estimated 90,000 carats of diamonds since signing the deal with De Beers.

The company noted that all of the capital expenditure required for the rehabilitation of the mine's underground operations and the construction of a new plant has already been spent and capitalized, meaning that the operation should be profitable and generate cash from the first month forward.