Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. Caledonia Mining Corporation says it is focusing on growing its gold projects in Zimbabwe and doesn’t plan to buy back its shares.
“We have got big investment projects,” chief executive officer Mark Learmonth said in an interview on the sidelines of Mining Forum Americas 2025 in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in the United States.
“The return on those projects will be much higher than buying our shares back,” adding that “the idea is to use the cash that we’re generating to invest in further growth for our shareholders.”
While momentum for mergers and acquisitions seems to be building after Anglo American Plc and Teck Resources Ltd agreed to combine, Learmonth said his firm was focusing on adjusting its portfolio in the African country to benefit shareholders.
“There’s been very little exploration activity in Zimbabwe, notwithstanding the fact that it is geologically highly prospective for gold,” he said. “I don’t think at this stage we have got any aspirations to buy anything else, anywhere else.”
Caledonia owns a 64% stake in the gold-producing Blanket Mine in Gwanda, 100% stake in the Bilboes Sulphide Project about 75km north of Bulawayo and the Motapa and Maligreen gold mining claims in Nkayi and Gweru, respectively.
In June Caledonia reported encouraging high-grade results from the ongoing resource expansion drill programme at its 64%-owned Blanket mine.
Results from 6 976 m of underground drilling from January 2024 to the end of April indicated that the existing Blanket and Eroica orebodies at the mine had grades and widths, which were generally better than expected, while the Lima orebody was shown to continue below 22 level (750m).
A new potential orebody was intersected in the Blanket orebody area of the mine, with the company highlighting “impressive” grades and widths.
The programme is aimed at evaluating the continuity of the mineralised zones on the Blanket, Eroica and Lima orebodies, which comprise three of the main orebodies at the mine.
It also aims to increase the confidence levels of the existing mineral resource and to grow the mineral resource estimate (MRE) below the 34 level of the mine (1 110 m).
“Our ongoing drilling campaign continues to demonstrate encouraging results, further improving our confidence in the Blanket mine mineral resource and pointing to additional future mineral resource growth,” Learmonth said at the time.
“The grades and widths we are seeing from this drilling campaign are as good as and, in some cases, considerably better than, results from previous drilling campaigns, which is highly encouraging.
“We anticipate that the positive grades and widths will result in an increased overall MRE, which in due course should result in the extension of the existing life-of-mine.
“We have invested heavily in Blanket mine over the last seven years to increase production capacity, resulting in mine infrastructure that can sustain production beyond the current production horizon.”
For More News And Analysis About Zimbabwe Follow Africa-Press
