Dual-listed Caledonia Mining has entered into an agreement to purchase the mining claims over the Maligreen project, a property situated in the Gweru mining district of Zimbabwe, from privately-owned Pan African Mining, for $4-million in cash.

Caledonia notes that Maligreen is a substantial brownfield exploration opportunity with significant historical exploration and evaluation work having been conducted on the property over the last 30 years.

This includes an estimated 60 000 m of diamond core and percussion drilling, 3.5 t of bulk metallurgical test work, and aeromagnetic and ground geophysical surveys.

As at August 31, Maligreen is estimated to host a National Instrument 43-101-compliant inferred mineral resource of about 940 000 oz of gold in 15.6-million tonnes at a grade of 1.88 g/t.

Caledonia says that 76% of the inferred mineral resource (about 712 000 oz) is shallower than 220 m, indicating the potential for an openpit mining operation.

The total land area of Maligreen is about 550 ha comprising of two historic openpit mining operations which produced about 20 000 oz of gold mined from oxides between 2000 and 2002, after which the operation was closed.

Caledonia expects to drill an initial 4 800 m at an estimated cost of $1.6-million over a period of 18 to 24 months to improve its understanding of the existing resource and assess the potential for a mining operation.

Further exploration opportunities exist within the claims area and a subsequent exploration programme is under consideration to explore for continuations of the existing inferred mineral resource at depth to the north-west and the strike extension in the northern part of the property.

CEO Steve Curtis says that the company’s understanding of the grade tonnage curve indicates that the deposit is likely to offer a high level of mining flexibility, although much more work is needed in this area.

"This transaction is an important next step as Caledonia pursues its strategy to become a multi-asset gold producer in Zimbabwe, one of the last gold frontiers in Africa,” he says.