South Africa’s Petra Diamonds (LON:PDL) could get up to $15 million for a 20.08-carat blue rock it found in September at its iconic Cullinan mine, when it goes for sale at a planned tender in Johannesburg next month.
“We expect this stone to fetch a good price — we are hoping for at least $13 million to $15 million — despite the rough market’s well-publicized travails,” Shore Capital’s Yuen Low said in a note Monday. “If this proves the case, it should provide a welcome, significant boost to [Petra’s fiscal-year] 2020 profits.”
Investment bank Berenberg valued the “exceptional” blue gem quality diamond at between $10 and $15 million, based on prices Petra has achieved for similar roughs from Cullinan in previous years. In 2015, the miner sold “The Blue Moon of Josephine”, a 29.6 carat blue stone, for $48.5 million, marking a world record price per carat at auction for any diamond at the time.
Previously, the miner had found a massive 122.52-carat blue diamond that sold for $27.6 million, and a 29.6-carat one of the same colour, which fetched almost $26 million.
Petra has been trying to turn around its fortunes after piling up debt to
expand Cullinan, where the world’s largest-ever diamond was found in 1905. That
rock was cut into two stones – the First Star of Africa and the Second Star of
Africa – and are now part of Britain’s Crown Jewels, held in the Tower of
London.
Read more about the blue diamond recently found by Petra on the Mining.com website HERE
