19th May 2015 08:20
LONDON (Alliance News) - Caledonia Mining Corp saw its shares hit a six-month high Tuesday morning after it reported an increase and upgrade to the resource base at the Blanket Mine in Zimbabwe, its main asset.
The gold explorer, which has a 49% stake in the Blanket Mine, said that it has been able to upgrade 491,000 tonnes to the indicated resource category from inferred resources and to add 47,000 tonnes of new inventory to the indicated resource, based on drilling completed at depth below the AR Main and at Blanket Sections over the past year.
The upgraded indicated resource of 538,000 tonnes is additional to the 2.9 million tonnes of reserves and indicated resource that was used for the reserve plan in the technical report prepared by Minxcon in December 2014 and represents an increase of 17.4% in terms of tonnes and 20.5% in terms of contained gold, Caledonia Mining said.
"When the Preliminary Economic Assessment was completed in late 2014 for the revised investment plan at Blanket Mine, approximately 55% of Blanket's resource base comprised measured and indicated resources and 45% comprised inferred resources. After the upgrade announced today, the resources split has improved to 62% in the measured and indicated category and 38% in the inferred category," Chief Executive Steve Curtis said.
"I am confident that the life of mine will be further supplemented by resource additions and upgrades as a result of the increased exploration activity, both at Blanket and also at the satellite projects," he added.
Caledonia Mining shares were up 9.3% at 47.00 pence Tuesday morning, a six-month high for the stock.
By Steve McGrath; [email protected]; @stevemcgrath1
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