The share price of Bermuda-registered Petra Diamonds Ltd. was sent soaring by a series of announcements since the company was floated, but a London newspaper has suggested that investors should sell.

An Evening Standard article last week suggested that there could be darker times ahead.

Edited by Tom Winnifrith, the article noted that the shares were placed at 30 pence on April 30 and then climbed to 105 pence, but said that the only guarantee was that "its original backers, rather than its current shareholders, will make money and that Petra will issue a lot of paper.'' Petra is a holding company whose subsidiaries are active in the exploitation, discovery and exploration of diamond deposits in southern Africa.

The company owns the Blue Diamond and Pagvlei exploration companies which operate in Namaqualand, Northern Cape Province, South Africa.

The article, part of a smaller companies focus by the newspaper, was headlined: "Mining costs could cloud the early sparkle at Petra Diamonds.'' It said that the firm owns diamond concessions in South Africa and Angola, "where the government is still fighting a dirty civil war with UNITA rebels.'' It noted some of the prospects seemed interesting, but would need a lot of money to develop. And, winning other exploration licences would also require more cash.

While outlining a couple of potentially successful mining sites, the article stated that at the price of 105 pence per share, Petra was capitalised at almost 32 million, even though its proven production capacity is only 2.2 million.