Shares in African diamond miner Petra Diamonds (LON: PDL) hit an all-time low on Monday after reporting a net loss of $258.1 million for the year ending in June, compared to a $203.1 million-loss in 2018, amid challenging market conditions.
The company, which has mines in South Africa and Tanzania, said the loss reflected an impairment charge of $246.6 million triggered by lower diamond price assumptions.
Richard Duffy, who has been at Petra’s helm since April, said the diamond market was in its worst state since the financial crisis in 2008, but expects it to stabilize in the next 12 to 18 months.
The miner’s share price fell to a record low of 7.178 pence, recovering slightly to trade down 8% by 08:30 London time at 7.45 pence. The stock is down about 80% this year, which gives the company a current market value of £65.64 million (about $82m a today’s rates).
Petra has been trying to turn around its fortunes after piling up debt to expand its flagship Cullinan mine in South Africa, where the world’s largest-ever diamond was found in 1905.
For the rest of this article: https://www.mining.com/petra-diamonds-shares-hit-all-time-low-as-loss-widens/