After declaring commercial production at its namesake gold project in Western Australia, Bellevue Gold (ASX:BGL) has launched a number of expansion studies to further boost its output.
During the March quarter, production at the Bellevue Project totalled 37,338 ounces of gold, putting the company on track to achieve its guidance of 75,000 to 85,000 ounces of gold for the six months to 30 June 2024.
Bellevue, which has a market capitalisation of $1.97 billion, will publish its FY25 production and cost guidance as part of a maiden multi-year outlook in July 2024, upon completing the budget and life-of-mine planning activities.
The expansion studies now underway are focused on expanding the Bellevue’s plant beyond its current capacity of 1 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa).
A scoping-level study has begun on a plant expansion to 1.5Mtpa, which will investigate capital requirements for the expansion and include non-processing infrastructure.
Bellevue says the study is expected to be completed in the first half of 2025.
“As well as increasing production and cashflow, this would enable us to leverage existing infrastructure, drive further economies of scale and unlock greater value from our exceptional high-grade orebody,” Managing Director Darren Stralow says.
The plant was designed to enable throughput capacity to be increased from 1Mtpa to 1.2Mtpa, with no material capital expenditure required.
To confirm this, Bellevue says the plant was operated at an annualised throughput rate of 1.2Mt for a week during February. The company found no material issues arose, which provided confidence that this rate can be achieved on a consistent basis.
The Bellevue Gold Project is a high-grade gold project in Australia with a global resource of 3.1 million ounces @ 9.9 grams per tonne of gold.
Bellevue Gold is a gold-focused company that strives to be a net-zero gold producer by 2026.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Bellevue Gold
