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TEXT EIGHTEEN
Richard Burton probably knew nothing of the small South African town of Cullinan when he bought yet another chunky diamond for Elizabeth Taylor in 1969. Now the Cullinan mine itself, like so many of the diamonds unearthed there, is about to change hands. On November 22nd De Beers, the diamond giant that has owned the mine since 1930, said it was selling it to a consortium led by Petra Diamonds, one of South Africa's emerging diamond producers, for 1 billion rand in cash. Provided regulators approve the deal, the transfer should take place by the middle of next year.
De Beers is selling because the mine is no longer profitable, despite attempts to turn it around. But Petra reckons the mine still has another 20 years of production in it and plans to extract at least 1m carats a year. The unexploited "Centenary Cut" deposit, which lies under the existing mine, could yield a lot more. This is good news for the mine's 1,000 or so employees and for the town, which has depended on the diamond business since Sir Thomas Cullinan discovered a prospect there in 1898 that contained kimberlite, a rock that can be rich in diamonds. The mine, established in 1903, is one of 30 or so kimberlite diamond mines in the world, and is believed to be still the world's second-most-valuable diamond resource
Petra is a relatively small outfit, listed on London's Alternative Investment Market, that specialises in buying mines that bigger companies see as marginal. Its trick is to extract better returns by rationalising production and processing, and keeping operating costs and overheads down. Petra has already bought two of De Beers's loss-making South African mines-both of which are now profitable-and is finalising the 78.5m rand acquisition of the group's underground operation in Kimberley, which stopped working in 2005.
It already operates four mines in South Africa and has promising exploration in Angola (a joint-venture with BHP Billiton), Sierra Leone and Botswana. Petra expects to produce over 1m carats by 2010-quite a jump from 180,474 carats in the year to June. The company has yet to make a profit, but expects to be making money by the middle of next year.
In the 1990s De Beers decided that it was no longer a good idea to try to monopolise the diamond market. It started focusing on higher returns rather than market share, and has been revamping its mine portfolio, selling off mines that are no longer profitable and investing in more enticing operations, such as its mine off the west coast of South Africa, its Voorspoed operation in the Free State province, and two new mines in Canada.
This has opened the way for a new class of diamond firm that operates in the vast middle ground between the world's handful of large producers and a multitude of much smaller exploration firms. The Cullinan deal should entrench Petra in this middle tier, alongside firms such as Kimberley Diamond and Trans Hex. But even if it does reach its target of 1m carats a year, Petra will still not be able to match the sparkle of the giants. Last year De Beers produced 51m carats from its mines in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Tanzania, which amounted to 40% of the world's diamonds by value.
1. The Cullinan mine was named after_____.
[A] the original name of the town
[B] the name of its first owner
[C] the name of its discoverer
[D] the name of the town's first colonist
2. Which one of the following statements is TRUE of the Cullinan mine?
[A] The mine is the only business of the town which employs most of the local residents
[B] It can be mined for another 20 years given Petra's advanced technology
[C] It is the world's second largest diamond mine with a yearly capacity of 1m carats
[D] Whether the mine will maintain its profitability is yet to know.
3. Petra's opearting philosophy can be said as _____.
[A] to make profits by reducing the costs
[B] to exploit the surrounding areas of an existing mine
[C] to integrate the resources of all the money-losing small mines
[D] to restructure the mine portfolio and to optimize the process management
4. De Beers has made changes on its development stratege because_____.
[A] it plans to shrink its market share and ends its long-term monopoly
[B] it wants to open the way for the middle tier of diamond market
[C] it switches its attention to making larger profits
[D] it wants to turn around the loss-making mines by cooperating with companies of smaller size.
5. The future of the new class of diamond firm is _____.
[A] promising
[B] dim
[C] unknown
[D] frustrating
