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BlueRock elated as it hits higher grades than projected at SA project

22 november 2018
BlueRock Diamonds said ore processed from KV1, one of its five known diamondiferous kimberlite pipes at Kareevlei project in South Africa, has exceeded its expectations.
The company processed 20,500 tonnes of ore resulting in grades of between 3.90 carats per hundred tonnes (cph) and 5.11 cpht at an average grade of 4.51 cpht.
The average grade in 2017 when mining exclusively from KV2 was 2.45 cpht.
“Our current focus at Kareevlei following our recent fundraise is to materially step-up and de-risk our operations with a view to supplying a regular feed of undiluted, higher grade kimberlite,” said company chief executive Adam Waugh.
“The ore we are recovering from KV1 is very encouraging in that it is a higher grade than we would have expected in this near surface, diluted material.”
The Kareevlei licence area covered 3,000 hectares.
It was estimated as at 3 September 2018, that the remaining inferred mineral resource from the three kimberlite pipes (KV1, KV2 and KV3) represented a potential inground value of about $124 million at a current average run of mine diamond value of $362/carat. 

Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished