Developer Bellevue Gold continues to kick goals on its path to production.
Bellevue is fully funded to first production at the Bellevue gold project, near Leinster in Western Australia's Goldfields, after raising about A$140 million in equity late last year and securing a $200 million loan from Macquarie.
The stage two feasibility study for the Bellevue project, released in September, outlined capital costs of $267 million for an eight-year operation set to produce 200,000 ounces of gold per annum at all-in sustaining costs of $922 an ounce in the first five years.
Bellevue confirmed the project is on budget and on track for first gold production in mid-2023.
Underground development had advanced to 3797m as of the end of December.
The rehabilitation works of the Paris decline have been largely completed, with only minor rehabilitation activities expected and work transitioning to fresh development for the remainder of the pre-production period.
An optimised primary ventilation plan is currently being implemented with completion of the upgrade and installation of the primary fan to follow.
Dewatering upgrades were also completed during the December quarter, with the second stage bore pump successfully installed in order to provide capability to completely dewater the historical mine.
The Bellevue mine had produced about 800,000 ounces of gold at 15 grams per tonne gold between 1986 and 1997, but had been largely forgotten since its closure, having been held by nickel companies for 20 years until Bellevue came along in late 2016.
Since then, Bellevue has defined a high-grade resource of 3 million ounces at 9.9gpt gold.
Just 1.56Moz is included in the current mine plan, presenting an opportunity for the company.
Infill drilling at the Tribune lode during the December quarter returned results including 10m at 15.4gpt gold and 2.4m at 46.2gpt gold.
A review of the Tribune grade control model, measured against indicated and inferred resources, demonstrated a 4% increase in grade and 2% increase in ounces.
A resource upgrade is due in the March quarter.
Planned development activities in the March quarter include camp construction and progressing the major development contracts for underground mining, power and processing infrastructure.
Bellevue recently recruited two former Northern Star executives. Former chief development officer Darren Stralow has joined the company as CEO, with former mine manager Bill Stirling coming on board as general manager.
In particular, Stralow's strong ESG credentials will aid the company as it seeks to build Australia's first "green and gold mine".
The Bellevue mine is expected to be one of the country's lowest emission gold mines due to its high grades.
Bellevue is aiming to achieve net-zero emissions by 2026.
