Bellevue Gold pours first gold bar at namesake project

Bellevue Gold (ASX:BGL) has poured the first gold bar at its namesake project in WA. The gold bar weighed 8.3kg and was poured in the first smelt on October 25, 2023.

Further, other project milestones have been achieved with the crushing circuit operating at 250tph at times during the six days of start-up operations to date and the ball mill has achieved a throughput of 125tph during the start-up period.

Ramp-up optimisation activities are continuing across the crushing, processing and plant services areas.

Pleasingly for Bellevue, the start of production and cashflow has been achieved on time and on budget with a significant stockpile on hand comprising of 115kt of underground ore ready for processing as part of the commission phase. A further 85kt of open pit material is also available for processing that is currently not in the early-stage processing plan.

The Bellevue project is now in the commissioning phase with plant throughput forecast to ramp up to consistent production at the nameplate processing capacity of 1mtpa.

Managing director Darren Stralow commented on the milestone.

“The start of production is the culmination of an incredible journey which started with an exploration project,” he said.

“To achieve this on time and on budget is a huge feat, particularly given the skills shortage and economic climate of recent times.

“This is a major credit to our construction and operations teams who alongside our key contractors have worked tirelessly to deliver this project.”