Petra’s entire interest in Williamson headed for Tanzania’s Pink Diamonds

An agreement has been entered into for the outright sale of Williamson Diamonds Limited, Petra Diamonds announced on 22 January 2025.  The London-listed and South Africa-active Petra is taking steps to sell its entire shareholding in the Tanzanian entity to Pink Diamonds Investments for a headline consideration of up to $ 16 million.

This follows Petra’s sale in May of just under half of the asset, in which the Tanzanian government has a stake, for $ 15 million via long-term technical services contractor Taifa Mining. Since then, Williamson’s coming under consolidated ownership has emerged as the preferred way forward.

As a Taifa affiliate, Pink Diamonds is viewed by Petra CEO Richard Duffy as possessing the technical and financial capability to conduct operations responsible for all stakeholders.

As a wholly Tanzanian-owned company with three decades of mining-related experience, Taifa’s working relationships extend to mining majors such as De Beers, Barrick and AngloGold Ashanti. It is now entering a phase of exclusive ownership of the asset where about 1100  people are employed, most of them Tanzanian.

In South Africa, Petra operates the Cullinan diamond mine in Gauteng and the Finsch diamond mine in the Northern Cape. The discovery of the kimberlite pipe by Canadian geologist John Williamson in 1940 led to ongoing operation since then, making it one of the world’s oldest continuously operating diamond mines. Its yield of 19-million-plus diamond carats includes the 54.5 ct Williamson pink diamond presented to British royalty in 1947.