Johannesburg: Petra Diamonds has lowered its sales and production forecast for the current fiscal year, as an expansion of its operations has taken longer than expected.
The South Africa-focused miner’s rough-diamond output will be 8% to 9% below its projection of 4.4 million carats for the 12 months ending June 30, it said Wednesday. As a result, revenue will be about 8% to 9% below what the market is expecting.
Nonetheless, the company is confident that the lower production levels will not affect its banking facilities, it said, and has held initial talks with its lenders.
The rough producer, which operates the Cullinan mine and other projects in South Africa, is still on track for “record” revenue this year, it added. It expects to produce 5 million carats in the fiscal year ending June 2018.
