Petra Diamonds to sell its stake in Williamson Diamonds Limited

·     A nonbinding memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed by LSE-listed Petra Diamonds to sell 50% of its stake in Williamson Diamonds Limited (WDL) to Caspian for $15-million.

·      Caspian is the technical services contractor at the Williamson mine, in Tanzania, of which WDL is the operator. Petra acquired its majority interest in WDL in 2009.

·      About 75% of the share in WDL is owned by Petra while Tanzanian government owns 25%.

A nonbinding memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed by LSE-listed Petra Diamonds to sell 50% of its stake in Williamson Diamonds Limited (WDL) to Caspian for $15-million. Caspian is the technical services contractor at the Williamson mine, in Tanzania, of which WDL is the operator. Petra acquired its majority interest in WDL in 2009. About 75% of the share in WDL is owned by Petra while Tanzanian government owns 25%.

Caspian’s local and mining experience is expected to support Petra in optimising the mine’s potential said Richard Duffy, CEO of Petro. On December 13, a framework agreement with the Tanzanian government was also announced. The new framework includes a capital restructuring of the WDL entity. It provides for Petra’s effective interest to be lower at 63% and the Tanzanian government’s interest to increase to 37%. Once the MOU and the capital restructuring in the framework agreement becomes effective Petra and Caspian will each indirectly hold a 31.5% stake in WDL, with Petra retaining a controlling interest.

Caspian chairperson Rostam Azizi  said that  it owned the largest fleet of mining equipment in Tanzania and has been the contractor for the mine for close to 20 years.