Caledonia acquires Bulawayo Mining Company claims

Caledonia Mining, a Jersey-based mining junior whose shares are listed on the  Victoria Falls Stock Exchange (VFEX), has acquired Motapa Mining gold claims near the Bilboes Holdings gold mine assets, which it recently acquired, as the group continues to grow its portfolio in Zimbabwe.

Motapa claims were previously held by the Bulawayo Mining Company, a privately owned UK company and according to Caledonia, the purchase price is undisclosed as it is below the regulatory disclosure threshold.

The mining group, which operates the famous Blanket Mine near Bulawayo, announced in July this year that it had entered into a binding sale and purchase agreement for Bilboes gold mine assets.

Caledonia considers Motapa to be highly prospective and strategically important to its growth ambitions in Zimbabwe in terms of both location and scale.

"Motapa is a large exploration property, which is contiguous to the Bilboes gold project in respect of which Caledonia announced that it had entered into a binding sale and purchase agreement in July 2022," Caledonia said in a statement.

The project was formerly owned and explored by Anglo-American Zimbabwe prior to its exit from the Zimbabwean in the late 1990s. The project is located approximately 75 kilometres north of Bulawayo with a mining lease covering approximately 2,200 hectares.

Caledonia said the Motapa asset had been mined throughout most of the second half of the 20th century, and the company understands that during this period the region produced as much as 300 000oz of gold.

"Whilst none of the mining infrastructures remains, the evidence of historical mining will provide guidance to our exploration team in best understanding the prospectivity of the region."

Commenting on the acquisition, Mark Learmonth, chief executive officer (CEO) of Caledonia said the company was now looking forward to developing an exploration program for Motapa.

"We are pleased to have concluded the purchase of Motapa. Given its large scale, excellent geological prospectivity, and its strategic location adjacent to Bilboes, Motapa was a high-priority acquisition for Caledonia.

"We look forward to developing an exploration programme for Motapa as we target a large-scale gold belt surrounding the Bilboes project," he said.

"With the central shaft at Blanket now fully operational and production targeting 80,000 ounces of gold per year, we anticipate that we will deploy the incremental cash flow arising from Blanket into our exciting exploration and project development portfolio in Zimbabwe."

Mr Learmonth said the acquisition of Motapa following the signing of a sale and purchase agreement to acquire Bilboes and the acquisition of Maligreen demonstrated that over the last 12 months Caledonia had established a pipeline of high-quality exploration and development projects.

He said this was in addition to the potential for further growth at Blanket where the company is optimistic about its exploration potential.

Caledonia has previously indicated that it continues to evaluate further investment opportunities in Zimbabwe's gold sector to transform the Company into a mid-tier, multi-asset Zimbabwe-focused gold producer.

That followed a record annual production of 67 476 ounces at Blanket mine for the year ended 31 December 2021.

Caledonia became the third listing on the VFEX listed by way of introduction of Depository Receipts.