Caledonia Mining Corporation Plc (NYSE American: LSE:CMCL), which operates the Blanket gold mine in Zimbabwe, said on Friday that Blanket’s underground measured and indicated gold resource had grown 22% to 2.178 million ounces, while unveiling a maiden 379,000-ounce resource at the neighbouring Motapa project.
Caledonia shares closed yesterday at $25.505 on NYSE American, up 2.43% from Wednesday’s $24.90 close, within a 52-week range of $15.76 to $37.87. Caledonia’s AIM-listed shares were indicated higher in early pre-market trade ahead of Friday’s open.
Caledonia published two stock exchange announcements shortly after 7am on Friday. The Blanket increase, up from 1.789 million ounces at the end of 2023, came from deep and long-hole drilling that converted lower-confidence inferred ounces into higher-confidence categories, with measured resources rising 48%. It also included a maiden surface resource of 30,000 indicated and 14,000 inferred ounces, with heap-leach test recoveries of up to 67%, opening a potential low-cost oxide production route from the first half of 2027.
The Motapa estimate, on ground Caledonia bought for $8.25 million in November 2022, cost $40.45 per measured and indicated ounce to find and acquire combined. Its mineralisation sits at Motapa North, immediately next to Caledonia’s Bilboes development project, which targets first gold in late 2028 over a planned 1.5 million-ounce, 10.8-year mine life. The find could extend or enlarge that runway.
Chief executive Mark Learmonth said the Blanket update “re-confirms that Blanket’s mineralisation continues at depth with generally improving grades and widths and creates the potential to extend Blanket’s mine-life by deepening its operations.” He called the Motapa estimate “a significant milestone for Caledonia” that “demonstrates the value created through our exploration activities over the past two years.”
Both estimates are resource, not reserve, figures prepared under the NI 43-101 code, with full technical reports due within 45 days and further metallurgical and economic work required before any development decision, including on deepening Blanket below its current 1,100-metre depth.