Diamond prices have recovered beyond 2008 pre-recession levels thanks to a limited supply, a rebound demand in Western countries, and a zealous market in the growing middle classes of India and China.
Generally speaking, this bit of good news benefits diamond miners; but particularly Petra, the largest pure play listed diamond miner, makes one of the largest gains as a result of rising diamond prices.
Somewhere between 80% - 90% of the world production of diamonds is used for jewelry, as measured by value. Rough diamonds worth around $10 billion per year get turned into reail jewelry sales worth six or seven times as much.
After several acquisitions, Petra now has seven producing mines. Six of those are in South Africa, of which Petra (in cooperation with Black Empowerment partners) owns between 70% - 74% of each mine. Petra has a 75% interest in its seventh mine in Tanzania.
The Cullinan mine brought 80% of the half year's output of 582 thousand carats, dominating in production out of all the mines.
Source: Yahoo!
