Diamond company Petra announced that it anticipated a significant increase in its diamond production in the coming year, Sharecast reported. The firm, which focuses operations on southern Africa and controls some of the most historically productive diamond mines on the continent, said that in the 12-month cycle that began this past July, its output of rough diamonds would jump by 30%.



In the year that passed, the company's diamond harvest almost doubled on the strength of increased production at its Finsch mine in South Africa. As a result, the firm's profits shot up by over a third to pass the $100 million mark for the year.



Petra's projections for the 2013 fiscal year include an expectation of mining 2.85 million carats of rough stones. That figure will only be the tip of the iceberg: in seven years' time, Petra says its annual diamond production will nearly double to five million carats, according to Sharecast.