Bellevue Gold kickstarts key works in ambitious expansion plan

Bellevue Gold has started underground decline development work at the Tribune portal as part of its ambitious plan to expand production at its namesake northern Goldfields mine to 250,000 ounces annually. Bellevue told the ASX on Monday the Tribune decline would be the sixth independent mining area, and was important as it would provide a second independent mine access route. It would also create the platform for the start of the southern drill drive to target mine-life extensions. The company said it was being developed by an additional fifth jumbo and was expected to access ore from the Tribune lode in the December quarter. Bellevue said the new jumbo was a fully electrified Sandvik 422iE battery electric vehicle, demonstrating the company’s commitment to electrification of the mining fleet where practical. The company also said commissioning of a key ventilation upgrade was due to start on September 18. It said the upgrade would initially increase underground vent flows by 50 per cent and provide fit-for-purpose vent fans suitable for the life of mine. “Historic mine dewatering has also reached a significant milestone, with the dewatering of the old workings now allowing for the removal of the safety exclusion zone from the historic underground,” the company said. “This will unlock mining of high-grade development and stoping in the Armand mining area. “These two key infrastructure works are expected to assist in de-bottlenecking the underground and allow more efficient use of the mining fleet.” Bellevue managing director and chief executive Darren Stralow said these key infrastructure upgrades were a core part of the the company’s growth plan and would unlock the ability to achieve the mining rates required for increased production. “We are already seeing the benefits of increased ventilation and work areas in our underground mining rates, and the successful dewatering of the old workings unlocks high-grade ore to mine in the upcoming quarters that was previously inaccessible,” he said. Bellevue said underground development rates were scheduled to increase during the rest of this year, with production expected to be back-ended to the first half of next year as further development headings and underground advance rates ramped up to a forecast run rate of 1.35 million tonnes per annum by the end of FY25. Bellevue on Monday reiterated its FY25 production guidance was 165,000oz-180,000oz at an all-in-sustaining cost of $1750/oz-$1850/oz, with the production profile weighted towards the second half. The company recently released its five-year growth plan which forecast production to ramp up to more than 200,000oz a year from the fourth quarter of FY25 before reaching 250,000oz a year in FY28.