REG - BlueRock DiamondsPLC - Impact of Omicron Variant & Diamond Sales

Bluerock DiamondsAnnouncement

22/12/2021 08:40

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
http://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20211222:nRSV4827Wa&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 4827W  BlueRock Diamonds PLC  22 December 2021

BlueRock Diamonds PLC / AIM: BRD / Sector: Natural Resources

22 December 2021

BlueRock Diamonds PLC ('BlueRock' or the 'Company')

Impact of Omicron Variant & Diamond Sales

 

BlueRock Diamonds PLC, the AIM listed diamond producer, announces an update
with regards to operations at its Kareevlei Diamond Mine ('Kareevlei') in the
Kimberley region of South Africa.

 

As of today, there are 24 reported cases of COVID-19 amongst the Kareevlei
workforce and circa 50% of the employees have not reported for work due to
them having contact with affected employees. In all cases reported to date, no
employees have experienced serious symptoms.

 

Given the Company's key priority is the safety and wellbeing of its employees
and their families, it has been decided to restrict operations at Kareevlei
until the 3(rd) of January 2022.  Provided that the situation does not
worsen, it is intended to continue to process the stockpile of crushed ore
during this period but no mining or crushing activities will take place.  It
is hoped that the closure will act as a circuit breaker and that full
operations will restart on 3(rd) of January 2022 although it is not possible
to predict how the pandemic will impact the Company's workforce over the
coming weeks.

 

More positively, the potential impact of restricting operations on the
Company's near term cashflow has been offset to some degree by a successful
private sale of a small parcel of diamonds for a total USD545,000 at an
average price of USD380 per carat, which included a high value 11.2 carat
stone sold for USD97,000.

 

Further updates will be provided in due course.

 

Mike Houston Chairman said, "Restricting mining and crushing activities at
Kareevlei is a difficult but unfortunately necessary and enforced step that we
have decided to take as the health and safety of our employees is our top
priority.  The closure comes at a very unwelcome time as both lines are now
operational, and management has been focusing on ramping up production.  The
Company expects to report on full year production during the middle of January
where, as previously noted, the Company will be reporting 2021 production
ahead of the lower end of its full year production guidance. We will continue
to assess the impact of the pandemic on our operations as we move into 2022
and will report further as and when events unfold."

 

Large stones recovered in 2021

 

 Date sold 2021  Carats  Value USD000  Value per carat USD000
 December        11.2    97            8.7
 November        7.6     67            8.9
 November        7.6     61            8.0
 November        6.5     53            8.1
 September       7.1     64            9.1
 August          14.3    236           16.5
 August          58.6    585           10.0
 August          21.6    268           12.4
 May             6.3     52            8.3
 March           8.4     89            10.6
 March           10.7    73            6.8
 March           9.8     53            5.5
 January         14.8    163           11.0

Notes: It is the Company policy to announce all stones sold with a value of in
excess of USD50k

 

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to
constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations
(EU) No. 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the
European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ('MAR'). Upon the publication of this
announcement via Regulatory Information Service ('RIS'), this inside
information is now considered to be in the public domain.

 

**ENDS**

 

For further information, please visit BRD's
website www.bluerockdiamonds.co.uk (http://www.bluerockdiamonds.co.uk/)  or
contact:

 

 BlueRock Diamonds PLC

 Mike Houston                           mhouston@bluerockdiamonds.co.uk

 David Facey, FD                        d.facey@bluerockdiamonds.co.uk
 SP Angel (NOMAD and Broker)

 Stuart Gledhill / Caroline Rowe        Tel: +44 (0)20 3470 0470
 St Brides Partners Ltd (Financial PR)

 Isabel de Salis / Susie Geliher        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 with a combined inferred
resource of 10.4 million tonnes / 516,200 carats (February 2021); based on its
planned production of 1 million tonnes per annum, this provides a minimum
10-year life of mine.

 

 

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  UPDUUOWRABUUURA