BlueRock Diamonds PLC is continuing to make solid progress with plans to upgrade production at its Kareevlei mine in South Africa to a rate of a million tonnes per year.
The company has successfully operated all key areas of the upgraded plant at design capacity on a short-cycle basis during the hot commissioning phase and is now positioned to meet its full year 2021 production target of between 22,000 and 26,000 carats.
As at 3 November 2021 BlueRock had produced 19,362 carats.
"We remain confident of achieving our targeted guidance,” said BlueRock executive chairman Mike Houston.
“At 3 November 2021 we had produced a total of 19,362 carats during the year with a further seven weeks of production available to the year end. Significant cost and operating efficiency benefits are anticipated once the new plant is running at capacity."
The company is focused on completing an expansion project aimed at increasing tonnages at Kareevlei to provide the economies of scale to turn the mine into a highly cash generative asset. #
Having run all key areas of the plant at design capacity on a short-cycle basis during the hot commissioning phase, the company has been making minor modifications to the processing circuit on both lines to adjust to the higher volumes and mix of ore.
The old plant will continue to operate alongside Line 1 of the new plant until the new plant has been completely debugged, in order to maximise production levels over the next couple of months.
This will help maximise cash inflow. The company is carefully managing limited cash resources having recently repaid half of the convertible loan note originally issued in 2014 amounting to £462,500 in accordance with its revised agreed terms.