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Mar 27, 2020
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Petra Diamonds suspends 2020 production outlook

By
Reuters API
Published
Mar 27, 2020

Africa-focussed miner Petra Diamonds on Friday suspended its production forecast for fiscal 2020 and said it was in "active talks" with a South African lender for near-term financing, amid worries over the worsening coronavirus crisis.


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The miner, which has three operations in South Africa and one in Tanzania, withdrew its full year production outlook of 3.8 million carats that it had issued in July 2019.

As South Africa is currently going through a three-week lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus outbreak, the company said it will scale down operations there to a minimum level.

Petra, which had brought forward the closure of its South African diamond sales by three days to March 23, said it would hold two further events in May and June, although the outlook for the programmes remains "highly uncertain".

Last month, Petra said the virus had hit Chinese demand for diamonds, forcing it to push back targets for cashflow and debt reduction, sending its shares more than 20% lower.

 

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