Bellevue Gold (ASX: BGL) has announced exceptionally strong results from the metallurgical testwork at its Bellevue Gold Project in Western Australia.
The company said that the recoveries averaging 97.8%, combined with upcoming maiden Indicated Resource, further underpins economic studies and pave the way for start of development of the Bellevue gold project.
BGL reported exceptional results from metallurgical tests. This includes overall gravity and leach recoveries from all lodes averaging 97.8%; exceptional gravity-only component recovery from all lodes with results ranging from 73.6% to 91.7%; standard reagent consumptions from all lodes; and gold deportment well distributed across all size fractions.
Bellevue said that geotechnical, visual inspections, and test work programs have been completed in preparation for underground re-entry.
BGL reported that tenders have been prepared and reviewed for early works in preparation for underground rehabilitation and development requirements
The company said that the drilling from underground is set to start in December quarter, 2020, with assistance from industry-recognised mining consultant, Entech Pty Ltd as Study Manager.
BGL reported that the resource conversion to maiden Indicated Resource is on track for release in the coming weeks. The company said that 10,000m regional discovery drilling has commenced along the highly prospective 20km Bellevue mineralised corridor.
Bellevue gold project
The Bellevue Gold Project is located approximately 30km north of Leinster township and 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.
Bellevue Gold Mine has been historically one of Australia’s highest-grade gold mines, producing 800,000oz @ 15g/t gold from 1986 to 1997.
Metallurgical testwork at Bellevue
The company had recently completed metallurgical testwork at its Bellevue Gold Project in Western Australia. The industry-recognised mining consultant, Entech Pty Ltd, was appointed as Study Manager to assist with ongoing studies to advance the project.
BGL had appointed independent metallurgical consultant Mr. Nathan Stoitis to assist with the metallurgical studies for the project. The geotechnical inspections were completed by independent geotechnical consultants MineGeoTech Pty Ltd.
BGL said that the testwork was conducted on ½ NQ core from the Bellevue, Tribune, Deacon, and Viago lodes at the Bellevue Project. Samples were processed at ALS laboratories in Perth for communition and gold extraction by conventional gravity and cyanide leach gold recovery. All samples are from primary lode types.
Exceptional recoveries reported
Bellevue reported that exceptional results were achieved using conventional gravity and leaching processes and standard reagents.
BGL noted that the testwork is also in line with original production at the Bellevue Lode between 1988-1996, which reportedly averaged ~96 per cent recovery from the gravity and CIL circuits.
The company announced that the test work generated recoveries averaging 97.8 per cent across the multiple lodes.
BGL said that exceptional gravity recoveries were returned across the four lode sources, varying from 73.6% to 91.7%. Overall leach recoveries were also reported to be very high, averaging 97.8% across the four lodes, ranging from 95.4.% to 99.6%.
The company said that the testwork confirms that the Bellevue lodes are exceptional in respect to extracting gold using conventional gravity and CIL processing flowsheets.
Latest updates and next steps
Bellevue reported that it has made significant progress on several fronts as part of its preparations for development.
The company said that further metallurgical test work is being conducted on the gravity recoverable gold component to optimise the gravity circuit design requirements. This study work will feed into other studies currently being performed.
BGL announced that the geotechnical inspections have been completed by MineGeoTech Pty Ltd and test work programs have been completed for the pit walls and underground areas that have been accessible in preparation for mechanised re-entry.
The company said that new and existing diamond drill core along with geophysical surveys and logging were used to determine the support requirements. BGL said that these tests revealed the ground conditions are considered favourable for standard ground support requirements.
Tenders received
BGL said that tenders for both pit wall rehabilitation, underground development and stripping have been received from multiple contractors with a strong interest shown in bidding for the works. The company reported that all tenders are currently being assessed for the commencement of early works.
Pending resource update
The company said that a resource update is pending which will upgrade a portion of the current 2.2Moz at 11.3 g/t gold Inferred Resource to the Indicated category. BGL said that all recent drilling has been focussed on infill; step-out exploration drilling has now resumed. The company said that the updated resource will focus on the Indicated category only.
BGL reported that the resource conversion to maiden Indicated Resource is set for release in the coming weeks. The company said that 10,000m regional discovery drilling has commenced along the highly prospective 20km Bellevue mineralised corridor.
Drilling from December
The company said that the drilling from underground is set to start in December quarter, 2020, with assistance from industry-recognised mining consultant, Entech Pty Ltd as Study Manager.
Management statements
Bellevue Gold’s Managing Director Steve Parsons said: “We have established a 2.2Moz resource at 11.3gpt1, we have just hit high-grade gold 7km away from the resource and we are now finalising a maiden Indicated resource.
These exceptional recovery rates, combined with the economic studies and other preparations underway, will position us to develop a project in a Tier One location with very high grades and a host of other extremely attractive features.”
All work that has been conducted on the underground infrastructure, points to a very low level of capital intensity for mechanised re-entry which is an amazing result given underground entry has not occurred in over 23 years. The 3D LIDAR survey highlights the competency of the surrounding ground conditions.”
We are currently on track with our dewatering program that will allow us to drill from underground in the fourth quarter of this calendar year.”