JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Despite achieving lower-than-expected grades at its Blanket mine, in Zimbabwe, during October, Caledonia Mining remains confident that the mine will meet its 50 000 oz production target for the full year.
“Barring unforeseen circumstances for the remainder of 2016, the blanket mine continues to deliver good results and the investment plan to increase production to 80 000 oz of gold in 2021 is still on schedule, having met all its key milestones for the year,” CEO Steve Curtis said on Wednesday.
However, while Caledonia's underlying performance is expected to be in line with expectations and operations remain robustly cash generative, Caledonia has warned of lower-than-expected earnings a share for the full year, albeit still higher than those reported for 2015.
The company noted a number of factors that will adversely affect the company’s profitability for the full year. These factors include the strengthening of the rand against the dollar leading to higher dollar costs of rand-denominated expenses and nonrecurring costs incurred on the evaluation of various investment opportunities.