BlueRock Diamonds completes crushing circuit upgrade at Kareevlei

BlueRock Diamonds, which owns and operates the Kareevlei Diamond Mine in the Kimberley region of South Africa, announced on Friday that the upgrade to the crushing circuit - including the installation of a larger cone crusher - was now complete.

The AIM-traded firm said that in addition to the installation of the new crusher, the crushing circuit was upgraded and reconfigured to handle the expected increase in material flows, and was now set up to be able to operate the new crusher alongside the existing cone crusher.

It said the new crusher began operating on Thursday. and was expected to be running at full capacity shortly.

The existing cone crusher would continue to run as volume through the new crusher increased, in order to maintain production and to build stockpiles of crushed ore in line with the firm’s operating plan.

“We are pleased that the upgrade of the crushing circuit has been completed,” said BlueRock Diamonds executive chairman Mike Houston.

“We have taken the opportunity to make a number of improvements to the processing plant during the crusher shut down period and are confident that these improvements will have the desired effect in achieving our targeted level of production in the second half of the year.

“Our volume guidance for the year remains at 280,000 tonnes to 335,000 tonnes and, as previously announced, we will refine our guidance following the end of the third quarter after the reconfigured plant has been operational for two months.”