Caledonia Mining, the US-based gold producer, has announced that gold production from its Blanket Mine in Zimbabwe, for the quarter ended 30th September 2022, was 21,120 ounces, which is a record for any quarter.

Caledonia Mining gold production

Caledonia said that the production numbers for Q3 2022 represented an 11% increase on the 18,965 ounces produced in the corresponding quarter for 2021. It added that the total amount of gold produced in the first nine months of 2022 was 59,726 ounces – 22% more than the 48,872 ounces produced during the same time period in 2021.

Commenting on the announcement, Dana Roets, Chief Operating Officer, said: "We are delighted that this quarter we have once again set a new production record at Blanket and for the last three quarters we have achieved our quarterly target ounces.

"This has been an excellent year, the ramp-up in production towards our yearly target of 80,000 ounces has met our best estimate and, as a consequence, we are on track to hit the top end of our production guidance of between 73,000-80,000 ounces,” he added.

Blanket Mine began production in 1904 and was acquired in April 2006 by a wholly owned subsidiary of Caledonia Mining Corporation. To date, in excess of 1m ounces of gold has been produced from the property. 

Multi asset gold miner

In August 2015, the company announced the construction of a new central shaft going down 1,200 metres from the surface, providing access for horizontal development in two directions on two levels below 750 metres. This increased the production and extended the lifespan of the mine, it said. 

The commissioning of the central shaft was completed in Q1 2021.

"We continue to work hard on completing the transaction for Bilboes and in the meantime will restart the oxide operations with the expectation that it will return to profit during the second quarter of 2023,” Roets continued.

"Caledonia is optimistic on the geological prospectivity in Zimbabwe and continues to evaluate other investment opportunities in the country with our long-term vision to become a multi asset gold producer,” he concluded.