24 Jan 2019 07:00
BlueRock Diamonds PLC / AIM: BRD / Sector: Natural Resources
24 January 2019
BlueRock Diamonds PLC ('BlueRock' or the 'Company')
Temporary Suspension of Operations at Kareevlei
BlueRock Diamonds PLC, the AIM listed diamond producer, which owns and operates the Kareevlei Diamond Mine ('Kareevlei') in the Kimberley region of South Africa, announces the temporary suspension of operations at Kareevlei due to the imposition of a section 54 notice from South Africa's mining regulator, the Department of Mineral Resources ('the DMR') received on Tuesday.
The section 54 notice is in relation to the code of practice relating to operation of trackless mining machines only and resulted from an accident on Friday involving an external contractor; Section 54 notices are not uncommon as a result of such incidents. The Company met with the DMR yesterday to discuss this matter and is in the process of amending its code of practice as required by the DMR for review by them on Friday this week with the suspension of operations expected to be lifted soon thereafter. The temporary suspension is not expected to impact upon the Company's production volume guidance for the year. Further announcements will be made as appropriate.
Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure - Certain information contained in this announcement would have been deemed inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 until the release of this announcement.
**ENDS**
For further information, please visit BRD's website www.bluerockdiamonds.co.uk or contact:
BlueRock Diamonds PLC Adam Waugh, CEO David Facey, FD |
awaugh@bluerockdiamonds.co.uk dfacey@bluerockdiamonds.co.uk |
SP Angel (NOMAD and Broker) Stuart Gledhill / Caroline Rowe |
Tel: +44 (0)20 3470 0470 |
SVS Securities plc (Joint Broker) Tom Curran |
Tel: +44 (0)20 3700 0100 |
Turner Pope Investments (Joint Broker) Lewis Jones/Andy Thacker |
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3621 4120 |
St Brides Partners Ltd (Financial PR) Lottie Wadham / Juliet Earl |
Tel: +44 (0)20 7236 1177 |
Notes to editors:
BlueRock Diamonds is an AIM-listed diamond producer which operates the Kareevlei Diamond Mine near Kimberley in South Africa which produces diamonds of exceptional quality and ranks in the top ten in the world in terms of average value per carat. The Kareevlei licence area covers 3,000 hectares and hosts five known diamondiferous kimberlite pipes. As at November 2018, it was estimated that the remaining Inferred Mineral Resource from the four kimberlite pipes (KV1, KV2, KV3 and KV5) represents a potential inground number of carats of 367,000.
BRD.L (BRD)