BlueRock Diamonds pleased with crushing circuit performance

Diamond producer BlueRock Diamonds announced on Friday that its crushing circuit was now processing at or above its target production level of around 80 tonnes an hour, following the installation of a second cone crusher and the implementation of optimisation initiatives.

The AIM-traded firm had previously announced that in June a fault was discovered in its cone crusher, which led to processing being stopped for around 10 days.

While the fault was being rectified, a rented crusher was installed on site at Kareevlei at modest additional cost.

BlueRock said its original cone crusher was now refurbished and operating in tandem with the rented crusher, thus increasing the throughput capacity in the secondary crushing process.

The crushing circuit now had the capacity to operate at more than 80 tonnes per hour, which the board said would enable the company to produce stockpiled material to alleviate the production challenges in the rainy period from January to April.

“I am delighted that we have resolved our issues with the crushing circuit and we now look forward to a continuous period of production at or above our target levels,” said BlueRock chief executive officer Adam Waugh.

“With two cone crushers now on site at Kareevlei and stockpiles expected to build up for processing during the rainy season we are in good shape for the remainder of the third and fourth quarters as we prepare to process Kimberlite from our higher grade KV1 pipe, the second of five pipes within the project area.”