Operations restarted on May 11 at its opencast Kareevlei mining operation, and the company believes it can run at full capacity there while abiding by the South African government`s lockdown regulations, it said.

However, the board has taken a number of steps to keep production costs as low as possible, including a reduction in development mining to align with lower annual production, a removal of contract crushing and a freeze on hiring.

"Our focus remains on the preservation of cash as we work our way through what is a very difficult and uncertain time," BlueRock chairman Mike Houston said in a statement.