African miner Petra Diamonds is likely to strike a deal with its lenders that could include a waiver or a reset of its debt covenants within the next month, CEO Johan Dippenaar says. The London-listed mining company said last week it had started negotiations with its lenders for debt agreements relating to its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) for December 2017 and June 2018. The confiscation of a consignment of its diamonds in Tanzania and a labour strike at its South African mines were the main reasons Petra flagged in October that it was likely to fall short of its loan obligations. "We are too tight with the covenants but we discuss with the banks all the time and we are confident that in a month or so we will have solutions to it," Dippenaar told Reuters on the sidelines of the Mining Indaba in Cape Town. "We have illustrated a business that keeps on growing and is able to service its debt, we are just at a turnaround point." Petra, which ope...
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