By ETimes
Caledonia Mining Corporation which has a secondary listing on the foreign currency denominated Victoria Falls Stock Exchange announced that it acquired more gold exploration property in Motapa Mining company.
In a statement released yesterday the company said, “Caledonia is pleased to announce that it has purchased Motapa Mining Company UK Limited, the parent company of a Zimbabwe subsidiary which holds a registered mining lease over the Motapa gold exploration property in Southern Zimbabwe.”
The purchase was made from Bulawayo Mining Company Limited, a privately owned UK company and according to the statement, the purchase price is undisclosed but is below the regulatory disclosure threshold.
Mark Learmonth, Caledonia’s chief executive (CEO), said, “We are pleased to have concluded the purchase of Motapa. Given its large scale, excellent geological prospectivity and its strategic location adjacent to Bilboes, Motapa was a high priority acquisition for Caledonia. We look forward to developing an exploration program for Motapa as we target a large-scale gold belt surrounding the Bilboes project.”
Caledonia said it considers Motapa to be highly prospective and strategically important to its growth ambitions in the country in terms of both location and scale.
Motapa is a large exploration property which is contiguous to the Bilboes gold project in respect of which Caledonia announced that it had entered into a binding sale and purchase agreement in July 2022.
According to Learmonth, with the central shaft at Blanket now fully operational and production targeting 80 000 ounces of gold per year, Caledonia now anticipates to deploy the incremental cash flow arising from Blanket into other exciting exploration and project development portfolio in Zimbabwe.
“The acquisition of Motapa following the signing of a sale and purchase agreement to acquire Bilboes and the acquisition of Maligreen demonstrates that over the last 12 months Caledonia has established a pipeline of high-quality exploration and development projects. This is in addition to the potential for further growth at Blanket where we are optimistic about its exploration potential,” the CEO said.
This comes as the miner reported a “record” quarterly gold production at the Blanket Mine and reiterated its full-year guidance.
The gold producer reported that in the three months ended September 30 it produced 21 120 ounces of gold, up 11% against the 18 965 ounces produced in the same quarter a year prior.
In the nine months to the end of September, production totalled 59 726 ounces, up 22% from the 48 872 ounces the previous year.
Looking ahead, Caledonia said it expected its full-year gold production to be at the top end of guidance between 73 000 to 80 000 ounces.
The Matopa area was formerly owned and explored by Anglo American Zimbabwe prior to its exit from the Zimbabwean gold sector in the late 1990s. The mining area has a mining lease covering approximately 2 200 hectares.
The Motapa asset has been mined throughout most of the second half of the 20th century, Caledonia said it understands that during this period the region produced as much as 300 000 ounces of gold.
Learmonth added that whilst none of the mining infrastructure remains, the evidence of historical mining will provide guidance to their exploration team in best understanding the prospectivity of the region – Harare