Petra Diamonds restarts South African mines

Petra Diamonds Ltd has restarted its mining operations in South Africa, but is restricting power usage in line with requirements by state utility Eskom, the company said on Tuesday.

Mines across South Africa have shut down after flash flooding triggered the most severe power blackouts in more than a decade, threatening a key export sector in a further blow to the country’s already slowing economy.

Petra, which said on Monday it was halting operations at its Cullinan, Finsch and Koffiefontein mines, said it had resumed operations after Eskom scaled back its programme of rolling power cuts.

(By Noor Zainab Hussain; Editing by Mark Potter)