Petra Diamonds share price soars as it discovers a 232-carat white diamond
Petra Diamonds saw its shares reach for the stars yesterday, after it revealed it had found an “exceptional” 232-carat white diamond at its Cullinan mine.
Shares in the FTSE 250-listed South Africa-focused mining company soared 8.65 per cent yesterday on the positive discovery, finishing the day on 192.10p.
Analysts at Numis said they expected the diamond could be worth up to $15m (£9.3m), and believed revenues from this one diamond alone could boost the mining company’s earnings per share this year by up to 13 per cent.
The diamond, described by Petra as being of “exceptional size and clarity”, is a D-colour Type II grade diamond, one of the purest grades.
The diamond is the latest high quality find from the Cullinan mine, which Petra acquired from De Beers in 2007.
The 232-carat white diamond find is also the largest at the mine since the 507-carat Cullinan Heritage diamond in 2009, which sold for $35.3m.
In June this year, Petra also found a 122-carat blue diamond from the mine.
The Cullinan Mine is known for its high quality diamonds, including the biggest gem diamond ever discovered in 1905, the 3,106-carat Cullinan Diamond, which is part of the British Crown Jewels.