London-listed Petra Diamonds sold a rare blue diamond found at its mine in South Africa for $27.6m, falling short of the price some analysts had expected it to make.
The company recovered the 122.52-carat diamond in June from its Cullinan mine, a site with a long and illustrious history of producing high-value stones.
Petra said the diamond was purchased by a partnership comprising itself and a polishing partner, who wished to remain anonymous.
The diamond miner, which has five mines in South Africa and one in Tanzania, will receive 85% of the agreed sale value, or $23.5m immediately and upon sale of the polished stone, it will receive 15% of the proceeds.
Analysts said that the $27.6m figure was less than the $35-$40m expected.
Blue diamonds are considered so rare that no official statistics exist about their recovery. The diamonds get their colour from small amounts of the chemical element boron trapped in the crystal carbon structure during their formation.
Since January, Petra has discovered three large diamonds - two of them blue - at Cullinan.
The mine, in the foothills of the Magaliesberg mountain range northeast of Pretoria, has been the source of many large diamonds, including the largest rough gem diamond ever recovered - the 3,106-carat Cullinan Diamond, found in 1905. R
Revenue from these auctions could accelerate dividend payments and fund Petra's capital expenditure as it looks to mine deeper to access undiluted and more valuable ore.
