After many years in the making, Bellevue Gold Limited (ASX: BGL) has poured its first gold bar at its Bellevue Gold Project in WA.
The maiden gold bar weighing 8.3kg was poured in the first smelt on 25 October 2023.
Bellevue has also successfully commenced operations of itsThe crushing circuit which is operating at 250 tonnes per hour at times during the six days of start-up operations to date.
Elsewhere, the ball mill has achieved a throughput of 125 tph (1.0Mtpa) on an ad-hoc basis during the start-up period. This is encouraging as this throughput achieves the design rate.
Bellevue is continuing ramp-up and optimisation activities across crushing, processing and plant services areas.
The start of production and cashflow has been achieved on time and on budget. A significant stockpile is on hand comprising approximately 115,000t of underground ore ready for processing as part of the commissioning phase. An additional 85,000t of open pit material is also available for processing that is currently not in the early-stage processing plan.
The project is now in the commissioning phase, with plant throughput forecast to ramp up to consistent production at the nameplate processing capacity of 1Mtpa.
The start of production is the culmination of an incredible journey which started with an exploration project,” Managing Director Darren Stralow 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.”
