AMN - ZIMBABWE: Sinking of shaft completed at Blanket

Caledonia Mining Corporation has completed shaft sinking at the new Central Shaft at Blanket Gold Project in Zimbabwe. The Central Shaft project has been in progress since early 2015 and the company has spent about $44 million sinking a new shaft from surface to a depth of over 1,200 metres.

The project now moves to the equipping phase prior to commissioning which is expected during the third quarter in 2020. Annual production from Blanket mine is then expected to progressively increase to the target of 80,000 ounces of gold from 2022 onwards.

The company expects the increased production, combined with economies of scale and lower future capital investment, will result in significant increases in Caledonia's profit and distributable cash.

Caledonia's chief executive officer Steve Curtis said: "Completion of the shaft sinking is an important milestone in Caledonia's investment plan. I would like to recognise the outstanding contribution of Caledonia's technical staff, led by Dana Roets, chief operating officer, who have worked hard over the last five years to ensure that we have reached this point.

"We now commence the equipping phase, which will take approximately 12 months, after which we can commence the production ramp-up towards our target of 80,000 ounces of gold in 2022."

Blanket Mine's target production for 2019 is between 53,000 and 56,000 ounces.

During the June quarter, there were approximately 12,712 ounces of gold produced, 6.4% above the 11,948 ounces produced in the first quarter of 2019. Gold produced for the first half of 2019 was 24,660 ounces, about 3.4% below the 25,582 ounces produced in the first half of 2018.

The company plans for Blanket to increase gold production from 54,511 ounces in 2018 to about 75,000 ounces in 2021 and around 80,000 ounces by 2022.

www.caledoniamining.com