WH Ireland Analyst Paul Smith today talked about Caledonia Mining Corportation LON:CMCL “Caledonia has today announced a Q3 production update for its Blanket Mine in Zimbabwe: 13.4koz gold were produced during the quarter which represents a 23% increase on the same period in 2015 and a 7%+ increase over Q2 2016. Caledonia remains on track for its production guidance in 2016 of 50koz gold.
As part of the ongoing improvements a new ball mill was also installed during the quarter. This removes a bottleneck in the mill and will raise throughput capacity from 1.5kt ore/day to 1.8ktore/day and is part of the mill improvements which will enable full production of over 80koz gold once the new Central Shaft is completed by 2021.
Caledonia continues to pay a dividend to shareholders despite the internally-funded investment into the Blanket mine from its cash resources. The value in the development into the deeper levels at Blanket below the 750m level are being brought through to the bottom line in increased gold production and revenues and we expect this increase to continue as more stopes in the mine are developed at depth. “
