Petra ramping up South-African diamond production

Diamond production in South Africa has very long history, starting from the second half of the 19th century. South Africa is one of the world's top diamond producers, and has the most diverse range of diamond deposits in the world. It is expected that the diamond production from South African mines will ramp up in the coming year.

The large diamond company Petra announced an expected increase of 30% in diamond production from its mines in South Africa, especially Finsch mine that in the last year managed to more than double its production.

Thanks to an increased diamond production in South Africa, Petra's projections for the 2013 estimate a mining value of 2.85 million carats of rough stones. By 2020, Petra's annual diamond production should reach five million carats.

Petra has bought many diamond mines in South Africa from De Beers (in 2009 De Beers closed almost two thirds of its diamond mining operations in South Africa).

Thanks to an increased diamond production the firm's profits increased by over a third to pass the $100 million mark for the year.

There were certain fears inside the global diamond industry that South Africa has lost its prominent place on global diamond map. Despite the fact that South African diamond industry needs to pass several difficult challenges (job creation, appropriate regulation, creating adequate incentives to attract more investors, etc. ), there's still plenty of diamond left in the country, and that should give country many new economic opportunities in years to come.