Petra: Operations At Williamson Mine Stopped As Key Personnel Questioned

(IDEX Online) – Petra Diamonds said that operations at its Williamson mine in Tanzania have temporarily been stopped for health and safety and security reasons due to certain key personnel from Williamson being questioned by the authorities.

The miner confirmed that a parcel of diamonds containing 71,654.45 carats of rough from the Williamson mine has been blocked from export to Petra's marketing office in Antwerp.

However the grounds upon which these actions have been taken have not been formally made known to the company as yet, Petra said in a statement.

Its statement follows media reports about the findings of an investigation into the Tanzanian diamond sector by a parliamentary select committee in Tanzania.

The Williamson mine is held 75 percent by Petra and 25 percent by the government of Tanzania. Petra said that all operations related to the mine are conducted in a transparent manner and in full compliance with legislation in Tanzania and the Kimberley Process.

"The government has complete oversight of the diamonds produced at the mine, which are physically controlled by a number of different government representatives in conjunction with Petra from the point of recovery until the point of sale. 

"Petra is not responsible for the provisional valuation of diamond parcels from Williamson before they are exported to Antwerp; this is carried out by the government's Diamonds and Gemstones valuation agency. This provisional valuation is used to calculate the company's provisional royalty payments to the government, however adjustments to final royalty payments based on the actual sales proceeds for the diamonds, once sold in Antwerp, are then made at the end of the tender process. The competitive open tender process utilized by Petra is also used by several other diamond mining companies and has a proven track record of transparent price discovery."

Petra said that the documentation relating to the parcel can be viewed on its website, including the Diamond Valuation Certificate issued by the Ministry of Energy and Minerals, the Kimberley Process Certificate, the company's invoice for shipment purposes, and the receipts confirming the company's payment of the provisional royalty and associated fees relating to the diamond parcel.

"Petra is committed to engagement with the government in order to resolve this matter and ensure that the correct information is available to all parties. The company will be in a position to address any other concerns raised by the findings of the parliamentary investigation once it has received a copy of the report.

"As a result of the aforementioned key personnel cooperating with the authorities on this matter, operations at Williamson have temporarily been stopped for health and safety and security reasons. The company will provide an update on this matter in due course."