Mark Learmonth
CEO: Caledonia Mining Corporation
‘A project of this scale should help Zimbabwe to reclaim its position as a major gold destination’
AFTER many years of circling the project, Caledonia Mining has taken the plunge, announcing last year the $484m development of Bilboes, a proposed 200,000-ounce-a-year gold mine – Zimbabwe’s largest when it starts production in 2028. Learmonth, not exactly the retiring sort, declared Bilboes will help the Southern African country reclaim its former role as a honeypot for international gold investors. Hyperbole?
Well, he may have a point: bullion’s price has encouraged a fresh wave of investment in Zimbabwe at companies such as Kuvimba Mining and Namib Minerals, which will spend $300m reopening mines. Gold production in Zimbabwe was up about 40% last year. Cometh the profits, cometh the taxman. In truth, Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF party has never made it easy for investors. At the country’s 2026 National Budget, government said it would hike royalties on gold miners aimed at boosting state income. Gold miners were to pay a 10% royalty if prices exceeded $2,501/oz, it said. Caledonia responded by saying that it would re-examine Bilboes given the economic impact of the proposed royalty.
A month later, in December, Zimbabwe relented, saying the royalty would only apply if gold topped $5,000/oz. Well, that’s a story that might yet be told. Gold was still upwardly mobile in January. In late January, Caledonia secured $150m in funding for Bilboes through a seven-year convertible bond offering and also representing the biggest international capital raising for Zimbabwe in over a decade. Hedging and cash flow from the firm’s 80,000 oz/year Blanket mine will fund the balance.
LIFE OF MARK
Learmonth joined Caledonia in 2008 and became the company’s CFO in 2014. Prior to this he was a division director at Macquarie First South, which formed part of 17 years’ experience in corporate and investment finance in South Africa, most of it in resources. He graduated from Oxford University and is a chartered accountant. He is a member of the executive committee of Zimbabwe’s Chamber of Mines.
