Petra Diamonds (LON:PDL) has received a record price of $300,000 per carat for a rough blue diamond from its Cullinan mine in South Africa.
The 4.8 carat blue diamond was sold for $1.45 million, which on a per carat basis was the highest price Petra has ever received. It claims the amount could also be the highest price ever paid per carat for a rough diamond and reflects the exceptional quality of the stone.
“Cullinan is renowned as the world's only reliable source of blue diamonds and this sale demonstrates how rare and desirable they are to the international market,” Petra said.
Blue diamonds are exceptionally rare and Petra may only find one or two per year despite mining millions of tonnes of rock.
Petra announced the sale alongside a move from the AIM junior market to a full main market listing in London.
Adonis Pouroulis, Petra’s chairman, said: “We have compiled a world class portfolio of long life assets, which produce some of the world's most spectacular diamonds, as evidenced by the sale of the Cullinan blue for over US$300,000 per carat.”
He added Petra’s aim is to increase annual production to over 5 million carats by 2019 to benefit from the long term supply/demand fundamentals of the rough diamond market.
At 300 million carats, Petra has one of the world's largest diamond resources, while it currently produces 1.1 million carats annually.
The group said a main market listing would give it access to a broader range of investors who want direct exposure to the positive long term fundamentals of the diamond market.