BlueRock Diamonds encouraged by production results, recovery to date

Volumes of around BlueRock's target of 1250 tonnes a day have been achieved, albeit not consistently due to the continued exceptional levels of rainfall and to-be-expected commissioning issues arising from the plant laying idle for over six months.

"We anticipate that now that the commissioning issues are largely resolved and once the rain finally subsides (we are nearing the end of the rainy season) we will be able to exceed our current monthly target of 25,000 tonnes per month," the company said.

BlueRock said that since recommencing operations recovered grade has been improving from initially 1.53 cpht to the most recent results of 3.02cpht.

"Further changes to the processing plant are being made which the board expects will show continued improvement to grade," the company said.

"Our average diamond size is significantly higher than hitherto and we have been recovering approximately 4 times the number of stones in excess of 5 carats, including three diamonds over 6 carats with the largest being 9.5 carats," it added.

BlueRock thus said the value per carat and value per tonne processed were significantly higher than achieved by the old plant configuration and at target volume levels would place Kareevlei into a healthy cashflow positive position.

"The price per carat of diamonds produced thus far during the April tender period have been estimated at over $500, compared with our previous average of $293 per tonne."

Chief executive Adam Waugh said that, whilst it was still early days and there was limited data to provide greater detail, BlueRock was encouraged by its production results and recovery to date.

At 11:55 GMT, shares in BlueRock Diamonds were up 8.57% to 4.75p each.