Caledonia Mining Corporation PLC has a high growth profile and is a cash-generative gold miner. The Blanket mine in Zimbabwe is the company’s main asset.
Caledonia reached its long-term goal of producing 80,000oz of gold in Blanket by 2022. The company has also acquired an important new resource base in Zimbabwe at Bilboes.
Caledonia Mining Corporation PLC has hailed the record quarterly gold production at the Blanket mine in Zimbabwe.
The mine produced 21,772 gold ounces in the three-month period ending September 30, a 3% increase over the same period last year.
The company has reiterated that it expects to sell between 75,000 and 80.000 ounces of the precious metal for the entire year.
Mark Learmonth, the chief executive of Blanket, said that the company has invested heavily over the past seven years. This year, Blanket will be investing in a new facility for tailings storage, which, according to the current production profile and production, is expected to last at least 15 more years.
Caledonia Mining Corporation PLC reported that production has picked up after a difficult six-month period for the Blanket mine, particularly in the second quarter.
The Zimbabwean miner said that as part of its remedial actions, it would also put the Bilboes Oxide operation back on an “adequate maintenance” basis.
Caledonia Mining Corporation PLChas re-stated its full-year guidance in respect of the Blanket mine in Zimbabwe. It estimates gold production between 75,000 to 80,000 ounces by 2023.
Blanket produced 17,436 gold ounces for the quarter ending 30 June 2023. This represents an increase of 8.7% over the 16,036 gold ounces that were produced in the first three months of 2023. In the first six month of 2023, Blanket produced 33,472 pounds of gold, compared with 38,606 pounds in the same period of 2022.
Gold was trading at US$1,920 an ounce as of the start of this week. One day into the week, gold is already above US$1,935. It may even go higher.
At just over £1,575 an ounce, sterling is also edging towards records. However, there was a rise to current levels in spring last year, when the Russian invasion in Ukraine and chaos in UK politics combined.
The worst should have passed; we can only go up from here.” The mining team of Liberum, a boutique investment bank, said these words after analysing the results of Caledonia Mining Corporation PLC.
Bilboes, the company’s Zimbabwean operation, had a less than promising start in producing oxide gold ore. The company’s primary Blanket operation experienced operational and technical problems.
The group still maintained its target for the full year of production of 75-80,000 Ounces of yellow metal.
Caledonia Mining Corporation PLC CEO Mark Learmonth talks to Thomas Warner following the release of a Q3 Production Update for the gold producer’s Blanket Gold Mine third quarter. The company is now on track to achieve its full-year target.
Learmonth says that production in the third quarter was nearly 21,800 ounces. This is a marked improvement over the first two quarters.
He describes the challenges Caledonia faces during the first half 2023 as “by far not systemic”, and confirms the production guidance for the year of 75,000-80,000 ounces.
