Caledonia Mining Corporation PLC (AIM:CMCL, NYSE-A:CMCL, VFEX:CMCL) has increased the measured and indicated gold resource at its Blanket mine in Zimbabwe by 22% and declared a maiden resource at the neighbouring Motapa property.
The gold miner said underground measured and indicated resources at Blanket now total 2.178 million ounces, against 1.789 million ounces at the end of 2023.
The resource is contained in 17.7 million tonnes grading 3.83 grams per tonne, reflecting a 16% rise in tonnage and a 5% improvement in grade.
Measured resources, the highest-confidence category, rose 48%, while inferred resources, the least certain, fell 30% to 748,000 ounces.
Caledonia attributed the decline largely to the conversion of inferred material into higher-confidence categories rather than mining depletion.
The company has spent $3.733 million on deep drilling at Blanket over six years, adding 1.279 million ounces before depletion at a discovery cost of $2.92 an ounce.
A technical study into deepening the mine below its current 1,100 metres is well advanced and should be published towards the end of 2026.
Caledonia also declared a maiden surface resource at Blanket of 30,000 indicated ounces, split between shallow oxide and transitional material and a sulphide zone.
Test work showed recoveries of up to 67% from heap leaching, a low-cost process in which crushed ore is irrigated with a gold-dissolving solution.
A trial leach pad will be prepared and a 10,000 tonne sample mined, with oxide production potentially starting in the first half of 2027 at 40,000 tonnes a month.
Chief executive Mark Learmonth said the sulphide zone beneath the oxide material was unexpected and could eventually be mined by open pit.
At Motapa, bought in November 2022 for $8.25 million in cash and loan notes, the maiden estimate runs to 379,000 measured and indicated ounces.
Those ounces sit in 7.8 million tonnes grading 1.51 grams per tonne, with a further 131,000 inferred ounces in 2.7 million tonnes at 1.48 grams per tonne.
Three years of drilling costing $7.084 million underpinned the estimate, giving a combined discovery and acquisition cost of $40.45 per measured and indicated ounce.
Almost all the mineralisation lies at Motapa North, immediately adjacent to Bilboes, the development project Caledonia expects to enter production at the end of 2028.
Learmonth said the two properties might ultimately support a larger operation or extend Bilboes's planned output of 1.5 million ounces over a 10.8-year mine life.
The Motapa estimate excludes results from the 2026 drilling campaign, which has extended to the property's central and southern shear zones.
Both estimates were prepared under Canada's National Instrument 43-101 disclosure standard, with technical reports due to be filed within 45 days.
Further exploration, metallurgical testing and economic evaluation are required before any development decision is taken.
One inconsistency worth checking: the Blanket release's glossary describes the mine as 64% owned by Caledonia, while the resource table notes state resources are reported as 100% attributable to Caledonia. Motapa is stated as 100%-owned throughout.
