Petra is committed to increasing shareholder value through the development of its assets, with a core objective to grow production and revenues substantially over time, and increase its stature as a leading diamond mining group.
The component parts of the Group’s strategy are as follows:
Focus on production
The Group has focused on acquiring mines of significant scale and scope which can make an important contribution to its portfolio in terms of both production and revenue growth. Petra’s planned growth in output will place the Group in a strong position to benefit from the positive long-term fundamentals for the diamond industry, where demand is forecast to outpace supply.
Increase output
Petra’s core objective is to steadily grow annual production to over 5 million carats by FY 2019. Petra has expansion programmes in place for each asset and has set out clear and transparent milestones for growth. In order to meet its targets, the Group has processes and systems in place to monitor progress and continues to strengthen its mine management teams through training and selective recruitment.
Access undiluted ore
Petra’s development programmes aim to open up new mining areas and access, undiluted ore. The Company’s objective at its underground block cave mines (Cullinan, Finsch, Koffiefontein and Kimberley Underground) is to deepen the mines, creating access to new mining areas and thereby providing access to clean, undiluted ore, which will increase significantly the recovered mining grade.
Optimise recoveries
Petra is focused on ‘value’ as opposed to ‘volume’ production. Each kimberlite orebody has its own individual signature and contains diamonds of unique average grade, size and quality (and therefore value). Petra’s management continually monitors the rough diamond market to establish the optimal rough diamond sizes and qualities to be recovered from each unique kimberlite orebody, and has the flexibility to amend configuration of the plant settings depending on what core value production targets are set for that operation.
Drive efficiencies
The Group is defined by a culture of rigorous cost control. Over the years, Petra has developed a low-cost focus well suited to maximising returns from its assets. Stringent cost control is evident in Petra’s achievements in controlling costs on a unit basis despite inflationary pressures. Central to this approach is the utilisation of in-house skills in the planning and execution of significant Capex programmes.