Miner Caledonia Mining successfully met production guidance for the year ended December 31, at its Blanket gold mine in Zimbabwe, producing 75 416 oz of gold, despite a challenging first half of the year, CEO Mark Learmonth says.

Blanket produced 20 172 oz of gold in the fourth quarter of 2023.

“Our 2024 guidance of 74 000 oz to 78 000 oz assumes that Blanket will broadly maintain the production rate achieved in 2023 and reflects the prudent decision to suspend mining in lower-margin areas which include lower grades and volumes and higher costs,” Learmonth says.

Budgeted capital expenditure (capex) for the group for this year is $34.4-million, which includes planned exploration at Motapa and further work on the Bilboes feasibility studies.

On-mine cost guidance at Blanket is between $870/oz and $970/oz.

All-in sustaining cost guidance is between $1 370/oz and $1 470/oz.

“Our significant investment in Blanket over the past seven years and completion of the Central Shaft has nearly doubled production, extended the mine life and allowed the restart of underground exploration in 2023. In July, we announced that the Eroica zone persists to depth and grades are significantly higher than previously thought.

“We continue to progress with the underground exploration programme and we expect to publish further exploration results in the first quarter of 2024 and a revised resource statement in the following quarter,” Learmonth says.

He explains that the company’s wider capex programme continues to focus on unlocking value and delivering its multi-asset growth pipeline in Zimbabwe with Motapa and Bilboes, while maintaining a disciplined focus on cost and capital allocation.

“We continue to progress our feasibility studies for the Bilboes sulphide project with a view to determining the best option for Caledonia stakeholders and I look forward to providing an update in due course,” he adds.

This work includes updating the existing feasibility study for a project producing about 170 000 oz/y of gold and work on an alternative phased approach to the project.