VICTORIA Falls Stock Exchange-listed Caledonia Mining Corporation has reported encouraging results from deep level drilling at Blanket Mine, which will result in an increased overall resource at the flagship operation.
“Our ongoing drilling campaign continues to demonstrate encouraging results, further improving our confidence in the Blanket resource,” Caledonia chief executive officer Mark Learmonth said in a statement yesterday.
“We anticipate that the positive grades and widths will result in an increased overall resource, which in due course should result in the extension of the existing life of the mine. We have invested heavily in Blanket over the last seven years to increase production capacity, resulting in a mine infrastructure that can sustain production beyond the current production horizon.
He added: "Drilling is currently focused on the Blanket and Eroica ore bodies, where crosscuts have been mined to allow optimal access to drill the deeper zones of the steeply-dipping ore bodies. These results are extremely promising and we look forward to the next phase of drilling and to updating the market accordingly.”
Apart from Blanket, Caledonia owns Bilboes and Motapa.The mining giant said these results, along with the outcome of further planned exploration, would be reflected in a revised mineral resource and mineral reserve statement which the company is expected to publish in the second quarter of 2024 together with a revised life of mine plan.
It is anticipated that a portion of the existing inferred mineral resources will be upgraded to measured or indicated mineral resources together with the addition of new inferred mineral resources. It is also expected that this will result in the existing life of the mine being extended, rather than an increase in the target annual production rate.
Caledonia said drillholes at Eroica, drilled from 750 metres below surface, have intersected the orebodies to depths of 1 110 metres below surface, the lowest level of main infrastructure being developed from the central shaft.
Similarly, drillholes at Blanket from 750 metres below surface have intersected orebodies down to 1 110 metres below surface.Drillholes from 930 metres below surface at Blanket and from 1 110 metres below surface on AR South have intersected the orebodies below 1 110 metres, which is encouraging for Blanket's longer-term development, it said.
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