(Alliance News) - BlueRock Diamonds PLC on Wednesday said it recorded a sharp rise in third quarter tender revenue after achieving record levels of production.
The diamond producer, which operates the Kareevlei mine in South Africa, said production in the period ended September 30 rose 45% year-on-year to 92,500 tonnes milled from 63,600 tonnes. The production hike was despite the plant being closed for 19 days between July and early August.
In September, it also achieved its monthly production target of 40,000 tonnes for the first time.
BlueRock said: "Production levels are continuing at this rate in October and the company is mitigating the risk of breakdowns of key equipment by systematically upgrading plant and ensuring that there are stocks of critical spares."
Production so far in 2019 has increased by 56% year-on-year to 212,900 tonnes milled from 136,600.
In the third quarter, BlueRock sold 4,139 carats, more than double from 1,834 a year ago. Also rising was the average price of carats sold, up 27% to USD432 a carat from USD341 in the same period last year.
This helped the company to record a tender revenue of USD1.8 million, almost triple the USD614,000 it achieved in the third quarter last year.
BlueRock explained: "The grade continues to increase, and, in the quarter, recovery grade exceeded the lower end of the company's 2019 guidance of 4.25 carats."
The company revised its 2019 guidance, hiking the lower range of its production forecast. It now expects production of between 310,000 and 335,000 tonnes milled from 280,000 and 335,000 tonnes. For 2020, it is still guiding for production between 380,000 tonnes to 430,000 tonnes.
Executive Chair Mike Houston said: "I am extremely pleased with the continued success at Kareevlei. We reached our monthly production target of 40,000 tonnes earlier than planned and achieved record levels of production for the quarter. The increased production, coupled with the increase in grade to above the lower end of expectations, as well as the continued quality of our diamonds leading to consistently high values per carat, has led to record levels of income and lowered unit costs of production."
The company also noted that mining contractor Teichmann South Africa Pty Ltd is yet to exercise its right to add a director to the BlueRock board.
BlueRock shares were trading 3.3% higher at 131.75 pence each in London on Wednesday morning.
By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com
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