EDITOR’S CHOICE PROJECTS | ZIMBABWE reach completion in July 2017. It will be 6 m in diameter and comprise a four compart- ment cage with a 3 000 tpd capacity (for men, material and equipment). The target will be 1 800 tpd of production hoisting. It will enable horizon- tal development The volume in two directions of gold on two levels (26 ounces Caledonia hopes to produce from 2021 onwards post the completion and 30 Level) below 750 m, of its depth extension programme ensuring opera- tional efficiency and re-risking the current single shaft mine status. “Our expansion plan will completely change this mine, guarantee a production ramp- • Increase underground materials handling: up to between 76 000 and 80 000 ozpa of The introduction of a new tramming loop gold, and secure its long-term future. Our on 22 Level will increase tramming capacity next door neighbour is mining well below (ore and waste) to 2 000 tpd. With a modest 1 000 m, which almost certainly puts us in $800 000 capital cost, this project has been the same position to extract ounces well scheduled for completion by July 2015. below 1 000 m.” • Continue No. 6 winze project: Already Fortunately, Caledonia needs very little underway, the new vertical shaft provides investment injected into its process plant, quick access below 750 m by connecting which has more than sufficient capacity for the mine at 630 m below surface to 870 the new production targets. m. Production from this project will start Caledonia’s plans for Blanket’s future will in January 2016 and ramp-up to an extra ensure a long-life mining operation produc- 500 tpd by mid-2017. ing significant ounces well into the future. It • New Central Shaft from surface to 1 080 is not about the immediate or past quarter m: At a capital cost of $23 million, the results which have achieved lower-than-ex- construction of this brand new shaft has pected volumes and weaker grades (3.6 been scheduled to start in August 2015 and – 3.8 g/t), but what the company is doing to 80 000 oz No. 2 conveyor feeds from the primary surface crushers to the crushed ore stockpile A revised investment plan, announced in November 2014, entails an internally funded three step expansion programme aimed at accelerating access to deeper resources. An NI 43-101 independent technical report in- cluding a preliminary economic assessment has verified the plan, outlining the results which include: • a 267% internal rate of return • a net present value of the Blanket mine at $147 million • of the ounces that need to be produced so that the cumulative cash flow arising from the revised plan becomes positive, only 3% will come from resources that are currently classified as inferred. The expansion plan entails three stages: change that. TABLE 1 Approximate production from proven and probable mineral reserves above 750 m (per LOM plan) Ore from crushed ore stockpile is fed onto No. 3 conveyor Tonnes milled Gold production 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2121 430 000 42 000 460 000 45 000 430 000 43 000 380 000 39 000 230 000 23 000 100 000 10 000 50 000 6 000 TABLE 2 Possible production from inferred mineral resources below 750 m (per PEA) Tonnes milled Gold production 430 000 42 000 35 000 4 - 5 000 No. 3 conveyor discharges onto the triple deck vibrating screen above the two secondary 38H Gyratory Crushers. 46 MINING REVIEW AFRICA | JANUARY 2015 160 000 215 000 390 000 550 000 600 000 20 - 22 000 27 - 30 000 46 - 50 000 63 - 67 000 76 - 80 000