BlueRock Diamonds PLC, yesterday announced a “temporary suspension” of operations at its Kareevlei Diamond Mine in the Kimberley region of South Africa.

The suspension came about due “to the imposition of a section 54 notice from South Africa’s mining regulator, the Department of Mineral Resources (the DMR)” received by the Company.

“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 stated.

BlueRock said it had held a meeting with the DMR to discuss this matter and “is in the process of amending its code of practice as required by the DMR for review by them”. The review is to undertaken 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,” the Company iterated.