Petra Diamonds posted a record after-tax profit of $70 million for the year ending June 30, 2010, financial news outlets reported.

Petra's total revenue for fiscal 2010 was $163.7 million, with mining activity providing a profit of $67.2 million – compared to a profit of $7.8 million in 2009.

The diamond company's gross diamond production stood at 1.165 million carats, a 6% increase over production in 2009. Petra said its goals were to double production of rough diamonds by 2014 and triple it by 2019.

2010 also marked the sale of the 507-carat Cullinan Heritage diamond, which fetched $35.3 million, and saw the company double its share in the Cullinan mine, from 37% to 74%.

Petra Diamonds CEO Johan Dippenaar called 2010 an "exceptional" year and said that the outlook for the diamond trade was positive. Dippenaar anticipated supply gaps in emerging markets, and said that Petra's strategy was to increase its production of rough diamonds to develop the company's stature "as an important diamond supplier to the world market."



In other news, Dippenaar told Reuters on Monday that Petra was in talks to buy De Beers' Finsch and Namaqualand mines, but he could not comment on how the negotiations were progressing.