One of the country’s leading gold producers, Caledonia Mining Corporation Plc, has reported further encouraging high-grade results from its ongoing resource expansion drilling programme at its 64%-owned Blanket Mine in Zimbabwe.
By Ryan Chigoche
The latest results are expected to significantly enhance the mine’s mineral resource base and potentially extend its operational life.
The drilling campaign, which commenced in January 2024, is aimed at evaluating the continuity of mineralised zones within three of Blanket Mine’s key orebodies: Blanket, Eroica, and Lima.
These efforts are focused on increasing confidence in existing resources and expanding the mineral resource estimate below the 34 level of the mine (1,110 metres).
This positive development at Blanket Mine comes at a time when gold prices are surging globally and are widely expected to continue rising. Driven by ongoing geopolitical conflicts and economic uncertainties, gold’s status as a safe-haven asset is strengthening investor demand. As a result, the potential increase in high-grade resources and extended mine life at Blanket positions Caledonia well to benefit from a favourable market environment, enhancing both production prospects and long-term value for shareholders.
Between January 2024 and the end of April 2025, Caledonia completed 6,976 metres of underground drilling, which confirmed that the Blanket and Eroica orebodies contain grades and widths that are generally better than previously expected.
Drilling also shows that the Lima orebody continues below the 22 level (750 metres). Additionally, a new potential orebody has been intersected in the Blanket orebody area, returning particularly strong early results.
Commenting on the development, Caledonia CEO Mark Learmonth said the company anticipates an increase in the mineral resource estimates thanks to the drilling results.
“Our ongoing drilling campaign continues to demonstrate encouraging results, further improving our confidence in the Blanket Mine mineral resource and pointing to additional future mineral resource growth. The grades and widths we are seeing from this drilling campaign are as good as, and in some cases considerably better than, results from previous drilling campaigns, which is highly encouraging. We anticipate that the positive grades and widths will result in an increased overall mineral resource estimate, which in due course should result in the extension of the existing life of mine. We have invested heavily in Blanket Mine over the last seven years to increase production capacity, resulting in a mine infrastructure that can sustain production beyond the current production horizon.”
The company said the increased density of drilling intersections is expected to upgrade existing inferred resources to the indicated category or higher, strengthening the foundation for long-term mine planning.
With deeper crosscuts developed to access the steeply dipping orebodies, Caledonia is now able to optimally drill and evaluate the mineralised zones at depth.
Current underground drilling is targeting the Blanket, ARM, and ARS orebodies down to the 38 level (1,230 metres below surface), representing a major push to identify deeper mineral potential.
At the same time, Caledonia has initiated a surface exploration programme within the Blanket Mine lease area, focused on a Banded Iron Formation (BIF) that runs in a north-westerly direction.
This BIF structure has historically supported gold production at nearby operations such as Vubachikwe and Sabiwa. Initial Induced Polarisation (IP) and Ground Magnetic (GM) surveys over a selected area delineated anomalies across a 600-metre strike. Follow-up mapping and shallow pitting confirmed the presence of quartz-filled shear zones within the BIF.
Grab samples from surface pits returned assay results ranging from 0.59 g/t to 32.12 g/t, based on analysis conducted at Blanket Mine’s onsite laboratory.
To further assess the potential of this surface target, Caledonia plans to undertake trenching at 50-metre spacing across the anomalous zone and initiate reverse circulation (RC) drilling to evaluate the presence of shallow oxide resources during 2025.
With both underground and surface exploration programmes delivering robust early-stage results, Caledonia is confident that Blanket Mine remains on a growth path, with additional high-grade discoveries enhancing the outlook for sustained production well into the future.
