Caledonia Mining Corporation Plc Publication of Annual Report on Form 20-F exhibiting Technical Report Summaries

ST HELIER, Jersey, May 17, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Caledonia Mining Corporation Plc (“Caledonia” or the “Company”) (NYSE AMERICAN: CMCL; AIM: CMCL; VFEX: CMCL) announces that it is today filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on EDGAR the Company’s Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021 (the “Annual Report”). The Annual Report was prepared in compliance with the SEC’s technical disclosure requirements for mining companies under new subpart 1300 of Regulation S-K (“1300 S-K”).

In accordance with 1300 S-K, the Annual Report now includes estimates of mineral resources in addition to the mineral reserves for each of the Company’s mineral projects as at the end of the reporting period (i.e. December 31, 2021), on an attributable basis (i.e. on the basis of ownership), with mineral resources presented exclusive of mineral reserves. This method of presentation differs from the Company’s previous method of presentation under Canada’s National Instrument 43-101 (“NI 43-101”).

The Annual Report also includes a technical report summary (“TRS”) for each of the Blanket Gold Mine and the Maligreen Gold Project, prepared in accordance with new S-K 1300. Caledonia’s current technical reports under NI 43-101 are unchanged, and remain as follows:

1. Technical report entitled “Caledonia Mining Corporation Plc NI 43-101 Technical Report on the Blanket Gold Mine, Zimbabwe” dated May 17, 2021 prepared by Uwe Engelmann and Daan van Heerden, and filed by the Company on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) on May 26, 2021 (“Blanket NI 43-101 Report”); and
2. Technical report entitled “Caledonia Mining Corporation Plc NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Report on the Maligreen Gold Project, Zimbabwe” by Uwe Engelmann dated November 2, 2021 and filed on SEDAR on November 3, 2021 (“Maligreen NI 43-101 Report”).
   

Shareholders are advised to take note that, as stated above, the mineral resources and mineral reserves estimates in the Annual Report are reported on an attributable basis, as at December 31, 2021 and, in the case of the Blanket Gold Mine which has mineral reserves, the mineral resources estimate is exclusive of mineral reserves. Therefore, while the mineral resources estimate stated in the Annual Report in respect of the Maligreen Gold Project is unchanged from that which is stated in the Maligreen NI 43-101 Report (given that Caledonia owns 100% of the Maligreen Gold Project, the project has no mineral reserves and there has been no mining depletion in the period since the effective date of that report because it is an exploration project), the mineral resources and mineral reserves estimates in the Annual Report in respect of the Blanket Gold Mine do differ from that which is stated in the Blanket NI 43-101 Report. The reasons for this difference is due to mineral resources and mineral reserves estimates declared on the basis of Caledonia’s 64% attributable ownership of Blanket Gold Mine (versus the Blanket NI 43-101 Report prepared on a 100% consolidated basis), mining depletion during the two year period from the effective date of the Blanket NI 43-101 Report of January 1, 2020 to the effective date of the Annual Report of December 31, 2021, and that the Annual Report presents mineral resources exclusive of mineral reserves. Caledonia is in the process of generating an updated NI 43-101 technical report for Blanket Gold Mine, expected in the third or fourth quarter of 2022, with a revised mineral resources and mineral reserves statement to take account of depletions as well as generation and conversion due to geological data collated since January 1, 2020.