BlueRock Diamonds plc announced that its October sale of 609.84 carats for a total value of US$ 226,400 helped it achieve an average of US$ 371.25 per carat, which was higher than the average price realised for the first nine months of 2017 of US$ 336.65. This reflects the high quality of Kareevlei diamonds, the Company said.

The October tender was also the largest ever at 609.84 carats (September: 544.57 carats) and helped the Company achieve its highest ever level of monthly sales of US$ 226,400 (September: US$ 175,621).

During the early part of the month, the Company’s operations were affected by rainfall and production fell to approximately 17,000 tonnes compared to 22,010 tonnes in September, though it has subsequently returned to normal levels. The diamonds produced and included in October’s sales tender resulted in a grade of 2.64 cpht. The average grade for total production in the third quarter was 2.49 cpht vs 1.59 cpht for the first half of 2017.

BlueRock said that steps have been taken to mitigate the effect of similar amounts of rain in the future by introducing a plant to produce a stockpile of covered material available for processing during rainy periods.

The Company reported that blasting and processing of the Level 2 kimberlite has now commenced. This level will, on average, yield higher grades than that achieved earlier, BlueRock stated.

Adam Waugh, Chief Executive Officer, commented, “Our October tender result continues to show the high quality of Kareevlei diamonds. The average price of USD 371 per carat was achieved without any exceptionally large diamonds, the largest being 5.5 carats. We have been able to demonstrate that the mine can be operated on a profitable basis and our team is now concentrating on sustainable improvements to production whilst we start to mine the expected higher grade ore.”