CALVF's Blanket Gold Mines commenced the production ramp-up to the targeted annualized rate of 60,000 ounces of gold by the end of 2011 :-) Do some DD....please, click on below link - :-)
Caledonia Mining almost doubles profit at Blanket Gold Mine 18th May 2011, 7:30 am by Jamie Ashcroft
Secondary Crushing & Screening Circuit feeding the Mill bin.
Carbon in Leach Circuit
Genset Hall: Interior (Date taken 10 May 2011)
Caledonia said it has made significant progress in addressing the production constraints at the Blanket mine in Zimbabwe
Caledonia Mining (LON:CMCL, TSE:CAL) revealed that it has almost doubled profits from the Blanket gold mine in Zimbabwe during the first quarter of 2011.
This was the result of growing production, reduced costs and higher sale prices.
"I am very pleased to report a strong first quarter performance for 2011,” chief executive Stafan Hayden said.
In the three months ended 31 March 2011 Caledonia produced 7,322 ounces of gold from the Blanket Gold Mine, 17 percent more than the preceding quarter.
Average cash costs fell 18 percent to US$648 an ounce and the average sale price was US$1,397 an ounce.
It made a US$5.248 million gross profit for the first quarter, almost twice as much as the US$US$2.8 million gross profit for the fourth quarter of 2010. It ended the period with net cash and cash equivalents of $1.4 million.
“The increased production coupled with the continued strength in the gold price and a reduction in Blanket's cash cost resulted in a substantial improvement in Caledonia's profitability and cash generation,” Hayden said.
"We have made significant progress during the current quarter to address the remaining constraints which, once solved, should enable us to reach our target of 10,000 ounces per quarter.
He added: “A new ore pass was raise-bored and commissioned on May 13, 2011.
The commissioning of the complete standby generating system commenced on May 16, 2011 and is expected to be completed by the end of May, after which Blanket will be able to maintain full operations during any interruption to the normal power supply.
“I am confident that Blanket will achieve its targeted quarterly production from the third quarter of 2011.”
The group also has the Nama mining licences in Zambia’s Copperbelt.
Caledonia has four large scale, long term, contiguous mining licences covering more than 800 square kilometres in one of the world premier locations for conventional copper-belt type mineralisation.
In this morning’s update Stefan Hayden highlighted the progress being made on the ground in Zambia.
"The drilling program at the Nama base metals project in Zambia commenced in March 2011 to identify typical copper-belt type mineralization,” Hayden said.
“This drilling program is expected to be completed by the third quarter 2011."
The initial drill programme is fairly modest.
At first the plan is to drill four 800 metre holes on the Konkola East prospect – which borders the world class Konkola copper property where Vale and African Rainbow Minerals is investing US$400 million to start production in 2013.
Caledonia intend to carry out a more aggressive drilling campaign, subject to the initial results, once it has a better appreciation of the potential scale of the opportunity at Nama.
GOLD - Focus prices as high as $12,000, so we are are approaching the most critical milestone in the entire gold bull market.
Sinclair continues: “The Republicans want to raise the debt ceiling, but not enough to take the US through the next election. When B.S.-Obama walked out of the meeting two days ago it was just on that point where he slammed his chair into the table and walked out. It’s being talked about as if that were standard procedure, as if that was the way things are, and in truth it is the way things are. The debt crisis has resolved itself unto a political platform and the political platform is not in the economic best interest of the nation, but rather in the best interest of the timing of another election and as a result of that the market (in gold) yesterday broke to a new high. This situation could be one of the catalysts to take out $1,764. It will be reasonable to assume that every effort will be made not to allow gold to get through that price. When it gets through that level gold will start jumping $100 to $200 a day. $1,764 should put up the biggest battle of the entire bull market. The number where confidence is lost is $1,764. Through that level you trigger Martin Armstrong and Alf Fields maximum numbers which will be $10,000 to $12,500, therefore expect that price level ($1,764) to be defended vigorously.”
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