Firestone Diamonds (LON:FDI) said today it has suspended operations at its BK11 mine in Botswana and placed it on care and maintenance.
In a statement, the firm said it would now focus on the flagship Liqhobong Mine in Lesotho which has proven large scale diamond recoveries.
The care and maintenance programme for BK11 is aimed at keeping the mine so operations there could be readily re-started, the company said.
It comes after an operations update earlier this month, in which the company said technical problems with the secondary crushing circuit at the plant were continuing and management were considering a number of strategic options.
Firestone said the decision was due to operational challenges and current weakness in the diamond market.
Today, chief executive Tim Wilkes said: "We remain committed to the operations in Botswana and the programme at BK11 is a temporary measure that has been designed to enable a rapid re-start of operations when the technical and market challenges have been resolved.
"The company will now focus on the flagship Liqhobong Mine in Lesotho which has proven large scale diamond recoveries and remains on track to announce the definitive feasibility study in June 2012 and produce 1 million carats by 2014."
The indicative monthly holding costs of the care and maintenance programme are around US $65,000, the firm added.
Firestone also said today it had concluded consultation with its employees at the mine to ensure a "transparent and legitimate process" covering a number of options, which are in line with the labour and mining acts within Botswana.