Bellevue Gold Limited (ASX: BGL) has announced its transition to project developer with a maiden Indicated Resource of 860,000oz at 11.6g/t gold at its Bellevue Gold Project in West Australia.
The company said that the resource was independently estimated by a leading consultant.
BGL said that a further increase in the Indicated Resource is anticipated for the December quarter, with Stage Two infill drilling to upgrade more of the Resource, which stands at 2.3Moz at 10.0g/t gold.
Bellevue said that the majority of the Indicated Resource consists of a high-grade core of 480,000oz at 15.5g/t at the Viago and Deacon lodes which remain open in all directions. The company noted that the mineralisation sits within close proximity to existing underground infrastructure, with further expansion drilling continuing in 2H CY 2020.
BGL reported that the drill Intersects outside of the current Indicated Resource ready for future inclusion include 2.3m @ 39g/t gold from 819m, 3.9m @ 21g/t gold from 197.1m, and 2.4m @ 27.4g/t gold from 269.9m.
The company said that the infill drilling from the Viago and Deacon Lodes confirmed further exceptional grade. Significant results include 5.0m @ 23.5 g/t gold from 481m, 7.4m @ 15.4 g/t gold from 573.8m, and 6.1m @ 17.7 g/t gold from 561.0m.
BGL said that a three-pronged drilling strategy is underway focussing on growing the Indicated Resource, further extensional drilling to grow the overall Resource by extending known mineralisation and further planned regional drilling to follow up on the recent Government Well discovery 7km from the existing Resource as well as other high priority Bellevue analogue targets.
The Company said that the resource has grown to 2.3Moz at 10.0g/t gold (0.86Moz at 11.6g/t Indicated and 1.4Moz at 9.2g/t Inferred) and remains open in all directions.
The company said that over 240,000m of diamond core drilling clearly demonstrates the robust and consistent nature of the Bellevue high-grade mineralised system.
Bellevue project
The Bellevue Project is located within the Agnew-Wiluna portion of the Norseman-Wiluna Greenstone belt, approximately 40 km NNW of Leinster. It sits in a major gold and nickel producing district with mines such as Jundee, Agnew & Lawlers, Darlot, Bronzewing, Sons of Gwalia, and Thunderbox in close proximity.
Since the commencement of exploration in Q4 2017, the company has grown the Resource to 2.3Moz at 10.0g/t gold (0.86Moz at 11.6g/t Indicated and 1.4Moz at 9.2g/t Inferred).
Drilling at Bellevue
The company had completed a total of 240,000m of diamond drilling at the Project, infilling selected areas of the previous 80m x 80m drill grid on which the Inferred Resources were based, to 40m x 20m and 40m x 40m drill spacing and in places a closer drill spacing. All drilling was conducted as diamond core from surface.
BGL has now announced a highly encouraging maiden Indicated Resource for the project.
High-grade maiden indicated resource
Bellevue Gold Limited has now announced a maiden Indicated Resource of 860,000oz at 11.6g/t gold at its Bellevue Gold Project in West Australia.
BGL said that the resource has been estimated on drilling completed up to mid-June 2020 and has concluded the first significant infill drill program at the project; conducted over selected areas of the Bellevue Inferred Resource during the first half of the 2020.
The company said that the Indicated Resource covers the newly discovered adjacent lodes of the Bellevue Mine and a minor shallow Resource at the shallow historic Vanguard pit, located 1km to the north-east of the Bellevue Mine.
The Indicated Resource forms part of Bellevue’s total 2.3Moz global Resource at 10g/t. This includes 860,000oz at 11.6g/t Indicated and 1.4Moz at 9.2g/t Inferred.
Deacon and Viago Lodes
Included in the project’s Indicated Resource is a higher-grade core of mineralisation including 480,000 ounces at 15.5g/t gold Indicated hosted in the Viago and Deacon Main Resource areas.
This mineralisation is within a few hundred metres of existing development and contains consistent high-grade high sulphide mineralisation that will be targeted in the early mine life at the project.
Deacon Lode
Recent results at Deacon Lode, received during June 2020 which have been included in the Resource estimate and are previously unreported, include DRDD453A 5.0m @ 23.5 g/t gold from 481.0m; DRDD444W1 3.1m @ 25.5 g/t gold from 614.5m; DRDD452 1.4m @ 43.7 g/t gold from 532.6m; DRDD439 1m @ 58.0 g/t gold from 487.7m and 1.85m @ 16.2 g/t gold from 499.6m; DRDD428 0.8m @ 48.0 g/t gold from 615m; and DRDD450 0.8m @ 39.5 g/t gold from 554.3m.
Viago Lode
Recent high-grade results from Viago lode include DRDD387W3 7.4m @ 15.4 g/t gold from 573.8m and 0.3m @ 113.8 g/t from 600m; DRDD387W4 6.1m @ 17.7 g/t gold from 560.9m; DRDD387W1 0.3m @ 121.9 g/t gold from 580.2m; DRDD447 2.5m @ 11.5 g/t gold from 382.1m; and DRDD445 1.3m @ 19.4 g/t gold from 387m.
Three-pronged drilling strategy
The company said that a three-pronged drilling strategy is underway focussing on growing the Indicated Resource, further extensional drilling to grow the overall Resource by extending known mineralisation, and further planned regional drilling to follow up on the recent Government Well discovery 7km from the existing Resource as well as other high priority Bellevue analogue targets.
BGL said that following the maiden Indicated Resource, a number of high priority areas of the remaining Inferred Resource of 1.4Moz at 9.2g/t gold have been highlighted. The company said that that will be followed up with additional infill drilling (Stage 2 infill drilling) during Q3 CY 2020 from surface and underground platforms as these become available.
BGL said that in particular, there is targeted drilling to materially expand the higher-grade core of 480,000oz at 15.5g/t gold Indicated hosted in the Viago and Deacon Main Resource areas by further conversion of Inferred category Resources.
Drill Intersects outside of the current Indicated Resource ready for future inclusion include 2.3m @ 39g/t gold from 819m; 3.9m @ 21g/t gold from 197.1m; and 2.4m @ 27.4g/t gold from 269.9m.
Underground drilling
BGL announced that the underground drilling would commence in 2H CY 2020 with the benefit of a significantly lower cost profile versus surface exploration and increased drilling productivity rates from underground. The company said that step-out drilling is targeting multiple Down Hole Electro-Magnetic (DHEM) conductors at the Project.
Entech appointed as study manager
The company said that work has commenced by Industry leading mining consultant Entech Pty Ltd who was appointed as study manager to advance the project.
BGL said that Entech is assisting with ongoing studies. The company said that tenders for both pit wall rehabilitation, underground re-entry and development, and stripping have been received from multiple contractors, and dewatering is continuing according to plan. BGL noted that a recently completed 3D LIDAR survey in the historical underground workings highlights the competency of the surrounding ground conditions.
Next steps
Bellevue Gold said that it is continuing to drill test the new lode with step out and infill drilling. Bellevue said that there are multiple areas of possible extensions of the lodes. The company said that other targets exist in the project and it is continuing to assess these targets.
Management statements
Bellevue Managing Director Steve Parsons said: “This Indicated Resource and the increases to come will underpin the economic studies on the project, which are now well underway.
Completion of these studies will mark the transition to the project development phase, which we believe will demonstrate the technical and economic strengths which come from having a large, high-grade project with simple metallurgy and access to existing infrastructure in a Tier-1 location.
There is also huge potential to continue growing the overall inventory at Bellevue, where the mineralisation remains open in multiple directions and we have numerous well-established targets, some with known mineralisation.
We are confident that the combination of economic and technical studies and Resource growth will drive further increases in shareholder value.”