Aim-listed BlueRock Diamonds achieved higher production, considerable grade increases and a 41% increase in carats sold for 2021, executive chairperson Mike Houston says.
The company owns and operates the Kareevlei diamond mine, in the Kimberley region of South Africa.
“The market has remained buoyant throughout the year, with prices returning to levels above those of 2019, resulting in revenue more than doubling in 2021 compared with 2020,” Houston says.
He notes that the new plant was fully operational in December and is running at close to design capacity now that a full complement of staff is back at work after the mine had to shut down most operations in late December owing to the spread of the Omicron variant.
“Quarter one production is always lower due to the impact of the wet season, but we are encouraged by the much-improved performance of the new plant to date. I anticipate much of [the first quarter of this year] will be used to make minor refinements on the plant and focus on sustaining production at the increased volumes,” Houston says.
“Despite losing 20 days on the mining front in [the fourth quarter of] 2021, which impacted the opencast operation and planned in-pit inventory management, and currently experiencing wet weather that makes recovering this lost development tonnage difficult, we have mining equipment capacity to increase volumes when weather permits and a run-of-mine and crushed ore inventory that will assist our operations during the rainy period,” he adds.
The company expects output for the first quarter of this year to be materially higher than the 86 005 t sorted that was produced in the first quarter of 2021.
Moreover, it has about 2 200 ct of diamonds for sale in January, which includes two larger diamonds of 8.9 ct and 6.8 ct valued at over $50 000 each, Houston says.
The outlook for the market remains positive with the rough diamond supply side tight and retail demand firm.
With this in mind, and having achieved the 2021 guidance despite the mine closure at the end of 2021 owing to Covid-19, the current guidance for 2022 remains unchanged at 40 000 ct to 43 000 ct.