In-depth22/02/2021 08:57 A lovely springtime sun is warming up the Antwerp diamond square mile, boosting temperatures from snowy below zero barely a week ago to a pleasant 15°Celcius. The weather is echoing the sentiment on the market and at Petra Diamonds, as both have emerged from tough times probably stronger than before. Since the outbreak of the pandemic in March last year, Petra Diamonds was one of the first to shift gears as the world was paralyzed. The Johannesburg sales were put on hold and the miner started focusing its sales on Antwerp, where operations continued despite global lockdowns. Petra’s Antwerp office, completely set up with signage queues and walking directions, screens and hand sanitizer stations every few meters, is full of life as Petra’s experts check and control rows of bags filled with rough diamonds, all sorted neatly, in a seemingly endless range of sizes and qualities, the so-called run-of-mine or original productions, from Petra’s Cullinan, Finsch and Koffiefontein mining operations.