Petra Diamonds hit by accusations of human rights breaches

The claims have been filed on behalf of 32 anonymous individuals and include personal injuries and deaths arising from the mine’s security operations.

Petra said that so far, the claims filed have not been served on it or the mine operator Williamson Diamonds Limited (WDL). In its letter before claim, Leigh Day expressed an interest in "alternative dispute resolution methods, including mediation", the company said.

In addition, Petra has received a letter from UK-based Non-Governmental Organisation RAID regarding similar allegations by local residents and others relating to actions by WDL, its security contractor and others linked to WDL.

"Petra will cooperate with RAID in order to understand fully the nature of its concerns," it said.

"Petra takes these allegations extremely seriously. WDL, as the operator of the mine and owner of the mining concession, is carrying out an investigation, as fully and timeously as possible given the limitations imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, supported by an independent, specialist consultant."

Petra is initiating its own independent investigation through a separate specialist third party.

The diamond miner noted that illegal artisanal mining has been occurring at Williamson "for some time" and said this was "due to the challenges in securing the large perimeter" of the special mining licence area.

"This illegal mining activity is managed by WDL and the local government authorities on an ongoing basis," it said.

At 1000 BST, the shares were down 4.8% at 1.89p.

Liberum analyst Ben Davis said: "We do not know how accurate these claims might be, but the type of large ore body does tend to get targeted by illegal mining because of the large perimeter, and we have seen instances elsewhere where this has happened.

"This is clearly another sharp negative against Petra, which was already going through a very difficult time with cashflow. The company is looking at strategic restructuring, including selling assets, but we would expect this court case make selling the Williamson mine even harder."

Peel Hunt said: "It is far from clear what actually has gone on. We are speculating here, but we believe it is plausible that with the mine on care and maintenance, the illegal artisanal miners who have historically co-existed on site and were managed by WDL perhaps became emboldened and have started to encroach on the mine itself.

"This may have resulted in flare ups between groups of artisanal miners and the security staff."