Blanket Expansion and Development Projects - Exploration and Development -
Blanket Gold Mine’s exploration interests in Zimbabwe include both producing claims (on-mine) and Brownfields Gold Mines exploration projects.
The current Blanket Gold Mines - mining area has eight near-vertical ore shoots between Jethro and Lima shafts (see figure NN under Property Geology).
An additional six old Gold Mines - ore shoots occur outside the above mining limits but are included within the producing claims area.
The longer term future of Blanket Gold Mine - depends primarily on the remaining life (resources) of these 14 ore shoots. Exploration at Blanket is therefore focussed on determining the continuity of these Gold mines mineralised shoots to depth -
Exploration and Development of Non-Producing Claims
New headgear, winders and winder house and compressor installed for the purpose of sinking a new shaft down to Level 4 (approx. 150m below surface).
Blanket has 18 brownfields old Gold mines projects in the vicinity of the existing mine operations, many of which were mined commercially from the early 1900s until the 1960’s. At the time of their closure, only the highest grade portions of these mines had been extracted, leaving significant amounts of lower grade mineralisation in the workings which are likely payable given the current gold price.
In addition, these old ore shoots remain open to depth and require further exploration and development to determine their full potential. Advances in exploration, mining and metallurgical technologies over the last 40 years means that such old workings may now potentially be economically viable on a sustainable basis and not just because of the high gold prices which currently prevail.
The Gold Mines Ore shoots AR Main, AR South and Blanket Reef, which comprise the deepest areas of mining at Blanket, have been exposed down to 750 meters below surface.
However, the ore shoots on neighbouring Vubachikwe Gold Mine - have been mined down to 1,100 meters below surface, suggesting that Blanket has at least this potential to increase its resources -
Blanket Gold Mine: steelwork for the new generator shed (February 2011)
Steelwork for the new generator shed (February 2011)
GG Gold Mine Project is located approximately 7 km south of the existing Blanket Mine operations. The GG targeted ore body occurs in sheared and altered basaltic rocks of the Mafic unit (like Blanket’s ore shoots) and old workings are limited to shallow surface excavations -
New headgear, winders and winder house and compressor installed for the purpose of sinking a new shaft down to Level 4 (approx. 150m below surface).
CALVF Blanket Gold carried out a preliminary geological investigation followed up by a 16-hole diamond drilling program which showed encouraging gold values over highly varying widths. Gold enrichment is associated with arsenopyrite which occurs in quartz shears within broad zones of bleaching (carbonate and mica alteration). The highest grades are associated with the intersection of two vertical shear zones and therefore follow a steep shoot structure with a strike of about 150 meters.
The mining of exploratory drives, raises and cross-cuts will be required to determine the shape of the mineralisation in 3D and hence determine the optimal shape of the shoot for mining purposes.
Work commenced on excavating a 140 meter deep exploration shaft in May 2010. This work was suspended in 2011 pending the installation of an electricity connection by the Zimbabwe electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) which is now expected to be completed in the first half of 2012. The shaft sinking and underground development is expected to commence on the 60 m and 120 m levels. Pre-sink work has been completed and the headgear and a winder have been installed. This development will provide the exposure necessary to map out the geology and evaluate the mineralisation, as well as provide a bulk sample of reef material for metallurgical testing. All reef development ore that can be treated profitably at Blanket’s metallurgical plant will be sent there for treatment. In the event that the GG prospect is shown to be viable, production could commence within two years as the mine would not require extensive capital expenditure.
Caledonia Mining - The Mascot Gold Mine Project - area comprises three existing shafts Mascot -
New headgear above the existing Mascot shaft which extends down to 4 Level 150 m below surface (taken September 2010).
Mascot Penzance Gold mine head frame shaft -
Mascot Penzance: new headgear, Mr Mangezi (Blanket Mine Manager) and Caledonia shareholders -
Mascot: newly constructed winder house -
Mascot Eagle Vulture Gold mine -
Eagle Vulture headgear, cage, diesel compressor and winder house – taken September 2010
Eagle Vulture: headgear, winder house and compressor house on the extreme right (February 2011)
Eagle Vulture: compressor house and re-conditioned compressor (February 2011)
each of which extend down to depths of up to 450 meters, and other infrastructure - Each of these shafts operated until the mid-1960’s after which production ceased due to the political manipulation of GOLD price at fiat$25-30.-/oz at that time and the limitations of the technology that was then available.
Blanket management believes that the application of modern techniques may allow some or all of these shafts to operate profitably. Depending on the rate and extent of the rehabilitation and favourable results from exploration work, the earliest that production could commence at the Mascot Project area would be in early 2012 with the maximum eventual daily production anticipated at a rate of up to 400 tonnes of ore per day from the three shafts. Such mined ore would then be trucked to the Blanket plant
Caledonia Mining Corporation (CALVF) Metallurgical Process -
Isn't the GOLD production supposed to double again in 2012?
Caledonia Mining gold output surges by 102% in 2011 -
Management performance often repeat itself -
That's what we hope - Au 100,000 oz/year a new low cost production target:-)
it has been said, the Blanket Mill has the extra capacity and with a little addition it can be accompliced -
Genset Hall: Interior (Date taken 10 May 2011)
The skips automatically tip ore hoisted to surface into the Shaft Bins on the No4 Shaft headgear. Ore is gravity fed from the Shaft Bins onto the No1 belt which conveys the ore over the automated belt scale and to vibrating screens and 14x24 Telsmith jaw crushers. This crushing circuit reduces the ore to minus 50 mm and it is then deposited by the No 2 belt stockpile conveyor onto the coarse ore stockpile which has a live capacity of approximately 2,000 tonnes of material. Ore from the coarse ore stockpile is then fed onto the triple- deck vibrating screen with the oversize being crushed to minus 12 mm by one of two 38H Telsmith Gyrasphere crushers. The 12mm ore is then fed into the 600 tonne Mill Bin which feeds the two (of the three installed) 1.8 x 3.6 m rod mills where it is milled down to approximately 70% passing 75 microns, before being passed through two 30 inch continuous Knelson Concentrators where approximately 49% of total gold production is recovered. The Knelson Concentrator tails are pumped through cyclones and into a 3.66 x 4.9 m x 750kW (1,000 HP) regrind ball mill.
As part of the No 4 Shaft Expansion Project, the capacity of the secondary crushers was increased to over 2,000 tpd and the capacity of the rod mills was increased to 1,800 tpd.
The slurry from the regrind mill is pumped into a carbon in leach ("CIL") plant consisting of eight, 600 cubic meter leach tanks equipped with 45 kW agitators where leaching at 50% solids and simultaneous adsorption of dissolved gold onto activated carbon takes place.
The CIL plant has a nameplate capacity of 3,800 tonnes of milled ore per day.
Elution of the gold from the loaded carbon and electro winning is done on site. Gold is deposited onto steel wool cathodes, the loaded cathodes are acid-digested and the resultant gold solids are smelted in an induction furnace to produce gold bullion of approximately 90% purity. Blanket exporting it directly to Rand Refinery in South Africa for final refining and sale. The full proceeds of sale (i.e. before payment of any royalty) are paid directly into Blanket's foreign currency account with its commercial bank in Zimbabwe within approximately 7 days of receipt of the gold by Rand Refineries.
Overall gold recovery rates have been increased from 85% at the time of acquisition by Caledonia to over 92% as a result of the re-design of more efficient CIL agitators and the installation of an automated liquid sodium cyanide facility which allows for multiple stage cyanide dosing and monitoring of the CIL. The PSA (Pressure Swing Adsorption) Oxygen Generator should be re-commissioned after its overhaul during March 2012 and the controlled sparging of oxygen into the CIL is expected to result in an increase in leach recoveries.
the extra feed will also be from the nearby deposit when the tunnel is soon done -
also extra feed from nearby re-commisioned Gold Mines within trucking distance -
Caledonia Mining gold output surges by 102% in 2011 -
Monday, April 2nd 02:32 PM IST # Caledonia Mining # gold # bullion # mining # precious metal
Caledonia Mining Corporation - (CALVF)(LON:CMCL)(TSE:CAL) an African focused mining and exploration company, has announced that its Gold production at the Blanket mine in Zimbabwe more than doubled in 2011.
The company's production increased in each of the last seven quarters and in the fourth quarter alone, 10,533 ounces of the precious metal were produced, exceeding the firm's quarterly production target of 10,000 ounces. The total gold production in the year increased by 102 per cent to 35,826 ounces.
Net profit after tax for the year came in at C$12.1 million on turnover of C$55.7 million compared to C$22.4 million in 2010.
Cash and cash equivalents as at year-end stood at C$9.7 compared to C$1.14 mln at December 31, 2010.
Highlights of the period included a five hold drill programme at the wholly-owned Nama copper/cobalt property in northern Zambia, which identified a new mineralised zone.
A large enough shallow resource could provide a future open-pit operation and further exploration has now begun consisting of 8,400 metres drilling.
In February this year, the company confirmed the sale of a 51 per cent stake in the Blanket mine in a deal worth US$30.09 million as part of Zimbabwe’s indigenisation programme.
It sees 16% of the mine being sold to the National Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Fund and 15% being sold to indigenous Zimbabweans. A further 10% will go to management and employee trust, and 10% will go to the Blanket Gwanda Community Trust.
Caledonia is an African focused mining and exploration company with an operating gold mine in Zimbabwe, a copper-cobalt exploration project in Zambia and two platinum-nickel exploration projects in South Africa.
Caledonia Mining - a low cost African gold producer -
Chinese and Russian central banks, Arab royals, Asian billionaires, Indian farmers, tin pot “stackers” and others stay focused on “squirreling away” physical metal - & FED - http://doreenellenbelldotan.info/AdolfRothschildHitler.htm
- against the PEOPLE slaves - working very hard for paper fiats -
E.g., about hyperinflation in Germany - a wheelbarrow of money required to buy a loaf of bread - People filling up their wood stoves with paper fiat-currencies -
Golden Au Investors welcome to Caledonia Mining Corporation -(CALVF :-) good to see you Gold King Solomon @ CALVF :-)
Well, I agree, looks very interesting, thanks to Falconbridge Gold Mining and Kinross Gold Mining - for many years invested more and more - than US$100 million of old good dollars -
Before CALEDONIA MINING CORPORATION - CALVF - bought BLANKET GOLD MINES all outright and increased the operation performance to the highest gold production and low cost of $583.-/oz in the last quarter report -
Please, look that infrastructure intact in excellent shape -
with more than 1000 happy high performance mine workers -
Stefan Hayden, President & CEO of Caledonia Mining, talks about a highly profitable gold producer in Zimbabwe, growing production and reducing costs, not needing additional capital to fund indigenisation or make investments, positioned to take advantage of growth opportunities in Zimbabwe, and an exciting copper project in Zambia (March 2012)
Caledonia Mining Corporation (CALVF) Earnings GO HIGHER GEAR -
Caledonia Nama Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Caledonia, holds four contiguous Large Scale Mining Licences, which cover approximately 800 square kilometres on the northern extension of the Zambian Copperbelt.
News 
Market Data 
Discover 
