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DIGGeRs & DeALeRs PReVIeW MACA.NET.AU

Going for (carbon-free) gold

uilding Australia’s first carbon-free
Bgold mine in a tight labour market
holds no fear for Bellevue Gold Ltd man-
aging director Steve Parsons.
Bellevue is now just over 12 months
away from pouring first gold at its name-
sake project near Leinster. Last month
the company confirmed all pre-production
costs were on track to meet previous fore-
casts with more than 90% of capital ex-
penses committed or fixed in tenders.
It was an important result for the com-
pany given the rising cost pressures and
ongoing labour constraints which have
plagued the entire resources industry
through the first half of 2022. Some mar-
ket commentators have even gone as far
to suggest now is anything but an ideal
time to be building a new mine.
Bellevue appears destined to prove the
critics wrong and Parsons believes the
company has done everything possible to
de-risk the project during what can often
be a challenging phase for developers.
“Obviously the big thing that everyone
has been talking about around the world
for the last 12 months – and will be for
the next 12 months I’d imagine – is what’s
been going on with inflation and cost pres-
sures and supply chain issues,” Parsons
told Paydirt. Bellevue is developing Australia’s first
“For us, we’ve done a couple of key carbon-free gold mine
things over the last 12 months where we’ve neering Services Ltd is undertaking early
been able to lock in 90% of our costs. Eve- works on the plant build ahead of the full
rything is fixed now, in either tendered or EPC contract being awarded. of expertise that we’ve managed to pull on
contracted costs. Parsons said the past 12 months had set board,” Parsons said.
“We have a large contingency as well the company up nicely for an even busier “Some of those have come from North-
with the $351 million of debt and equity that year ahead. ern Star, who are obviously the premier
we have available to us. That’s well above “At Bellevue, we have our PACE core underground mining company here in WA,
what’s required to build the processing values – passion, accountability, commu- so we are very, very fortunate to have at-
plant, which is actually a pretty standard nity and excellence – and we like the word tracted some of the best people around to
size here in WA and relatively small in the PACE because we are going at a rapid be able to take this mine into production.”
grand scheme of things.” pace and we have been going at that pace Bellevue is also leading the way in gen-
Last month’s project update also re- for a long time,” he said. der diversity. At the time of print, the com-
vealed probable reserves had increased “The whole team has really enjoyed the pany’s female workforce was nearing 50%
29% to 6.8mt @ 6.1 g/t gold for 1.34 moz, change from going from pure exploration/ representation, while 40% of the board
while the life-of-mine inventory is now 1.85 discovery to move into production next and senior management were women.
moz, underpinning a 10-year mine life. year. We still have a fantastic exploration Parsons has never been afraid to push
Production in the first five years is team there, but we’re obviously building the boundaries and orchestrating Aus-
forecast to average 200,0000 ozpa at a the expertise on the mining side to support tralia’s first carbon-free gold mine could
bottom-quartile AISC of $1,000-1,100/oz, the transition.” be his greatest achievement. The Belle-
with the project set to generate free cash Key recent appointments include Darren vue project is forecast to have the lowest
flow of $231 million annually for the first 10 Stralow as chief executive and Bill Stirling carbon emission intensity of all ASX-listed
years, based on a $2,500/oz gold price. as general manager operations. Both were gold mines on a per ounce basis.
Pre-tax IRR is estimated at 68%. instrumental in the success of Northern The project’s greenhouse gas intensity
Bellevue reported last month its devel- Star Resources Ltd during the past dec- is also forecast to be as low as 0.15t of car-
opment timeline was now 62% complete. ade. bon dioxide per ounce which is up to 4.6
The company recently appointed Bill Bea- “Western Australia is without a doubt times better than the national average for
ment’s Develop Global Ltd as the under- one of the premier underground gold min- Australian gold mines.
ground mining contractor, while GR Engi- ing districts globally so there’s a huge level

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