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FANCY COLORED DIAMONDS

A set of five rough blue diamonds has provided some welcome relief to the cash-strapped mining company Petra Diamonds, which closed out a competitive tender in which the winning bid of $40.36 million offered a partnership between De Beers and Diacore was accepted.

PETRA SELLS A COLLECTION OF FIVE BLUE ROUGH DIAMONDS,

AND RECEIVES AN INJECTION OF BADLY NEEDED CASH

 

A set of five rough blue diamonds has provided some welcome relief to the cash-strapped mining company Petra Diamonds, which closed out a competitive tender in which the winning bid of $40.36 million offered a partnership between De Beers and Diacore was accepted.

Known as the Letlapa Tala Collection, the five stones were all sourced from Petra’s legendary Cullinan Mine, located in close proximity to the South African capital of Pretoria. Letlapa Tala means “blue rock” in Northern Sotho, commonly known as Pedi, which is the predominant language spoken in the Cullinan area.

Weighing 85.6 carats in total, the individual stones in the Letlapa Tala Collection are 25.75 carats, 21.25 carats, 17.57 carats, 11.42 carats and 9.61 carats in size.

“The result of this special tender affirms the very high value placed on blue diamonds, which are undoubtedly one of nature’s rarest treasures,” said Richard Duffy, CEO of Petra Diamonds, in a statement.

“We believe this to be the first time that five rough blue diamonds of significant size, color and clarity have been offered for sale at one time and we are delighted that the collection has been bought in its entirety,” Duffy added

PLUCKED FROM THE EDGE OF BANKRUPTCY

The sale of the Letlapa Tala Collection could not have come at a better time for Petra, which for much of the past year has reportedly been teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.

In May the company had reported that it would be unable to pay the coupon on $650 million worth of bonds, raising the prospect of the company falling into default.  A month later it reported a loss of $223 million, and a net debt equaling $696.6 million, which was about $100 million more than the amount reported one year earlier. In the wake of the COVID crisis and the shutdown of its mines, its share price fell by more than 80 percent.  

The company put itself up for sale in June, as part of a restructuring process, but reportedly received no viable offers.

In October the Petra management reported it was abandoning plans to sell the business, in favor of a debt-for-equity restructuring. Under the plan, the existing $650 million of bond debt would be partly replaced by up to $337 million of new notes, including $30 million of new money contributed by debtholders. The remaining note debt would be converted into equity, leaving the debtholders with 91 percent of the company and existing shareholders with a combined shareholding reduced to 9 percent.

Petra said it expected to finalize terms with the noteholder group and South African lenders in early November, with the restructuring of the mining company becoming effective in the first quarter of 2021.

The 12.03-carat “Blue Moon of Josephine,” mined at Petra Cullinan Mine and sold for $48.4 million at Sotheby’s in Geneva in November 2015, a record price for any gemstone at the time.

The Cullinan Mine in the northeast of South Africa, which in its more than one century of existence has produced some the world’s most famous diamonds.

WHEN $40 MILLION COULD BE CONSIDERED A BARGAIN

It is quite possible that De Beers and Diacore bought the Letlapa Tala Collection at bargain price. In 2014, Petra discovered a 29.6-carat rough blue diamond at the Cullinan mine. It was later sold polished for $48.4 million, as the 12.03-carat “Blue Moon of Josephine,” at a Sotheby’s auction in Geneva in November 2015. At the time, it was the highest price ever received at auction for any gemstone.

That record did not stand for long. In May 2016, the 14.62 carat Oppenheimer Blue sold for $57.6 million, setting at a new a world record for any gem. That was eclipsed in 2017 by the sale of fancy pink colored diamond.

Earlier this year, Petra announced that it has sold a 20.08-carat blue precious diamond, which was discovered in September 2019 at Cullinan, for $14.9 million.

Cullinan is unusually old mine. It achieved fame in 1905, when it was known as the Premier mine and operated by De Beers. 

That year it yielded the Cullinan diamond, named for a nearby town. At 3,106 carats, it remains the largest rough gem diamond ever found.

 

The Cullinan was cut into the two most important diamonds in the British Crown Jewels in the Tower of London. They are the First Star of Africa, which is mounted at the top of the Sovereign’s Scepter and weighs 530 carats, and the Second Star of Africa, the 317-carat centerpiece of the Imperial State Crown.

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